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FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 

REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED    BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


sec 


i 

CHURCH     MUSIC. 

A 

LECTURE, 

BY 

THE  EEV.  J. 

MUKRAY  WILKINS,  M.A., 

RECTOR  OF  SOUTHWELL,   NOTTS,   AND   RURAL   DEAN. 

First  American  Edition,  with  Notes. 

BALTIMORE  : 

JOSEPH    ROBINSON. 

1861. 

<^1  Of  PHW£f> 
V  NOV    2   1332  ' 


CHURCH    MUSIC 


A   LECTURE, 


BY 


THE  REV.  J.  MURRAY  WILKINS,  M.A., 


RECTOR  OF  SOUTHWELL,  NOTTS,  AND  RURAL  DEAN. 


First  American  Edition,  with  Notes. 


BALTIMORE  : 

JOSEPH    ROBINSON 

1861. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861,  by 

JOSEPH    ROBINSON, 
In  the- Clerk' s  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  District  of  Maryland. 


PREFACE 


The  following  Lecture  was  compiled  from  (besides 
other  authorities)  Hawkin's  History  of  Music ;  Pal- 
mer's Origines  Liturgicae ;  Jebb  and  Latrobe  on  the 
Choral  Service;  The  Parish  Choir;  Apology  for  the 
Cathedral  Service;  The Ecclesiologist,  Vols.  VII.,  VIII. , 
IX.,  and  various  lectures  and  papers  by  Jebb,  Hel- 
more,  Druitt,  Hullah,  Sir  H.  Dryden,  Spark,  Childs 
Clarke,  Wright,  Campbell,  Fetis,  &c.  &c. 

The  Lecture  was  originally  written  for,  and  read 
before,  the  Literary  Society  in  my  own  parish  ;  it  was 
afterward  delivered,  by  request,  at  the  Mechanics' 
Hall,  Nottingham  ;  and  at  the  Town  Halls  of  Newark, 
and  Retford. 

It  is  now  published, — also  by  request. 

Southwell,  Easter,  1856. 


LECTURE  ON  CHURCH  MUSIC. 


The  last  time  I  had  the  honour  of  appearing  before 
you  as  a  Lecturer,  I  took  the  liberty  of  expressing  my 
opinion  as  to  the  value  of  Mechanics  Institutes  and 
Literary  Societies  like  yours,  when  regarded  in  an  Edu- 
cational point  of  view.*  I  shall  also  this  evening  com- 
mence by  a  few  words  on  the  practice,  now  become  so 
general,  of  delivering  Lectures  at  such  Institutions. 

Now,  when  any  one  who  has  much  studied  any  par- 
ticular subject,  or  from  education,  ability,  or  experience, 
is  rightly  regarded  as  an  authority  on  any  particular 
subject,  delivers  as  it  were  the  concentrated  essence  of 
his  knowledge  or  experience  in  the  form  of  a  lecture, 
such  lecture  is  of  course  in  itself  valuable.  But  I  think 
that  there  are  only  two  classes  of  hearers  to  whom  such 
a  lecture  is  likely  to  prove  of  real  or  lasting  value,  viz., 
1.  Those  who  have  some  knowledge  of  the  matter  be- 
forehand, and  desire  further  information  and  direction; 
and  2ndly,  Those  whom  the  lecturer  may  attract  to  the 
study  of  that  subject. 

I  confess  it  is  to  address  these  two  classes  of  hearers 
(especially  the  latter)  that  I  have  consented  to  appear 
in  the  capacity  of  a  lecturer  here  to-night.  The  sub- 
ject I   have   chosen   is  both  interesting  and  important. 

•The  introductory  part  of  this  Lecture  was  read  only  at  Southwell, 


6 

We  have  in  this  place  much  good  Church  Music  pro- 
vided for  us,  and  there  are  many  helps  and  advantages 
for  those  willing  to  cultivate  this  study ;  and  regarding 
as  I  do,  Music  as  an  important  branch  of  education,  I 
should  be  very  glad  of  the  formation  of  a  Choral  Society, 
or  Singing  Classes,  for  relaxation  or  innocent  amuse- 
ment,— or,  still  better,  to  enable  the  people  to  take,  as 
they  ought,  a  greater  share  in  the  service  and  praise  of 
God  in  His  Church. 

I  have  spoken  of  Music  as  a  branch  of  education. 
Mr.  Maurice,  in  his  valuable  lectures  on  "  Learning  and 
Working,"  delivered  last  year  at  Willis'  Rooms  in 
behalf  of  the  Working  Man's  College,  says,  that  "  of 
all  experiments  in  English  Education,  beyond  compa- 
rison the  most  successful  has  been  that  for  diffusing  a 
knowledge  of  music,  and  a  love  of  music  among  our 
people.  The  Mechanics  Institutes  have  attracted  a 
few  men  here  and  there,  and  those  generally  not 
mechanics;  the  classes  of  Mr.  Hullah  have  brought 
thousands  together  of  both  sexes  in  London  and  in 
every  part  of  England.  Every  order  down  to  the 
lowest  has  felt  the  impulse.  Numbers,  instead  of 
merely  hearing  lectures  about  music,  have  actually 
learned  to  sing ;  and  no  one  can  look  at  their  faces  at 
one  of  their  great  meetings,  and  not  perceive  with  what 
hearty  delight,  and  with  what  comparative  indifference 
to  mere  display  and  effect  they  exercise  their  gift." 

"  Now  these,"  says  Mr.  Maurice,  **  are  most  signifi- 
cant facts,  facts  which  require  to  be  reflected  on.  If 
music  has  taken  stronger  hold  of  those  whom  we  desire 
to  educate  than  any  other  study  has  done,  especially  if 
it  has  laid  hold  of  them  when  we  had  thought  that  any 
other  study  would  have  been  more  in  agreement  with 
their  previous  tastes  and  habits  of  mind,  there  must  be 
something  in  it  which  may  help  us  to  understand  what 
is  needed  in  all  studies,  something  which  may  deepen 
and  widen  our  thoughts  respecting  the  nature  of  edu- 
cation itself." 


Mr.  Maurice  (who  confesses  himself  to  be  "an  utterly 
dull  and  incapable  listener,")  proceeds  to  say  that  he 
"attaches  great  importance  to  this  movement  towards 
musical  education.  1.  Because  it  is  useless  to  impart 
what  men  are  not  willing  to  receive ;  and  here  is  an 
index  of  what  they  are  willing  to  receive  ;  and  2dly,  be- 
cause it  seems  a  most  healthful  instinct  which  has  led 
them,  while  comparatively  indifferent  to  much  that  has 
been  offered  to  them,  to  select  what  we  should  have 
called  a  mere  amusement  or  gratification.  If  the  higher 
classes  have  made  Music  a  mere  amusement  or  gratifi- 
cation, so  much  the  worse  for  them.  I  believe  to  the 
workiug  people  it  must  be  more  than  that,  or  it  will 
not  be  that."  "Their  instinct  is  possibly  sounder  than 
our  criticism.  They  may  have  discovered  the  very 
truth  which  we  have  nearly  forgotten  ;  their  welcoming 
of  music  may  be  a  sign  that  they  want  something 
deeper  and  better  than  all  mere  indoctrination."  So  far 
Mr.  Maurice, — and  if  by  mere  indoctrination  he  means, 
as  I  suppose  he  does,  a  system  of  education  like  that  of 
Thomas  Gradgrind  in  Dickens'  "Hard  Times,"  i,  e.,  a 
mere  cramming  of  facts,  —  "Facts,  sir,  facts,  and  no- 
thing else," — I  most  cordially  agree  with  Mr.  Maurice. 

The  branch  of  music  that  I  have  chosen  for  this 
evening's  lecture  is  Church  Music.  And  by  Church 
Music  I  mean  that  Music  only  that  was  composed  and 
appropriated  expressly  for  the  use  of  the  Church  in  her 
properly  appointed  Services,  and  which  has  been  so 
used  by  her,  as  I  shall  shortly  show  you,  from  time 
immemorial. 

I  maintain,  then,  that  the  whole  Liturgy,  or  Service 
of  the  Church,  always  used  to  be,  and  for  hearty, 
united,  congregational  worship,  always  should  be,  a 
Musical  Service. 

And  on  these  grounds  : — 

1.  Because  such  a  Service  is  the  most  decorous,  and 
in  fact  absolutely  necessary  for  hearty,  united,  con- 
gregational worship. 


8 

2.  Because  it  is  the  most  natural,  and  the  most  in 
accordance  with  the  dictates  of  common  sense. 

3.  On  Utilitarian  principles.     And 

4.  Because  it  is  warranted  and  sanctioned  by  the 
universal  consent  and  practice  of  all  nations,  ancient 
and  modern. 

I  shall  then  cite  a  few  testimonies  in  support  of  my 
views,  and  as  I  believe  some  persons  are  silly  enough  to 
consider  choral  services  as  having  somewhat  of  a  popish 
or  semi-popish  character,  I  shall  only  bring  forward 
such  witnesses  as  I  think  you  will  acquit  of  any  bias  in 
favour  of  Romanism. 

I  shall  then  proceed  to  give  you  a  brief  account  of 
the  music  of  the  Church  from  the  earliest  ages,  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  choir,  who  are  so  kind  as  to  assist  me, 
will  give  you  some  illustrations  of  the  ancient  chants, 
and  anthems,  and  hymns,  and  carols. 

Before  I  proceed  however,  I  may  as  well  here  dispose 
of  an  objection  sometimes  urged,  viz.,  the  unpopularity 
of  a  choral  service.  A  man  may  say.  as  men  sometimes 
do  say,  "I  don't  like  music."  To  this  simple  state- 
ment I  can  imagine  but  one  reply,  —  "Don't  you?  I 
am  sorry  for  you."  But  if  he  should  go  on  to  say,  "  / 
don't  like  the  choral  service,  I  think  it  ought  to  be  put 
down," — here  he  begins  to  argue.  Here  is  a  simple 
statement,  or  proposition,  and  an  inference  drawn  from 
it.  Now  we  may  admit  the  importance  of  the  fact  of 
this  individual's  taste,  but  I  don't  see  that  we  are 
equally  bound  to  admit  the  inference  that  he  draws. 
I  don't  see  how  his  individual  opinion  affects  the  merits 
of  the  thing  itself.  I  cannot  see  that  because  John  Tom- 
kins  cannot  appreciate  the  music  of  the  Church,  that 
therefore  the  music  of  the  Church  ought  to  be  "put 
down."  John  Tomkins  may  not  like  the  finest  com- 
positions of  Mendelssohn  or  Handel  so  well  as  the 
classic  melodies  of  "Pop  goes  the  Weasel,"  or  "The 
Ratcatcher's  Daughter ;"  but  I  don't  see  that  we  ought 
therefore  to  be  robbed  for  ever  of  the  "Elijah,"  or  the 


9 

"TTallelujah  Chorus."  If  it  be  said,  "The  people" 
don't  like  a  choral  service,  I  simply  deny  the  fact. — I 
maintain  that  "  the  people"  do  like  it.  I  know  of 
Churches  where  the  choral  service  has  been  introduced 
to  the  satisfaction  and  delight  of  marvellously  increased 
congregations.  If  it  be  said,  They  go  only  to  hear  the 
music, — I  would  reply,  What  right  hast  thou  to  judge 
thy  brethren,  thou  Pharisee?  Is  there  no  sincerity  in 
a  cathedral  ?  Is  there  no  hypocrisy  in  a  conventicle  ? 
No, — the  opposition  to  choral  service,  if  such  be  made, 
does  not  come  from  "the  people,"  from  the  mass  of  the 
congregations.  It  never  comes  from  the  majority  of 
the  fervent  worshippers,  the  devout  communicants. 

First,  then,  That  a  Musical  Service  is  the  most  de- 
corous, and  absolutely  necessary  for  hearty,  united, 
congregational  worship. 

You  will  all,  I  think,  willingly  admit  that  the  great 
objects  of  Divine  Worship  are  edification,  prayer,  and 
praise ; — that,  as  the  Apostle  tells  us,  all  things  should 
be  done  in  the  Church  "to  edifying,"  and  that  all 
should  be  done  "decently  and  in  order;"  that  the 
praise  of  God  is  the  very  highest  occupation  in  which 
any  created  being  can  be  employed, — for  prayer  relates 
to  our  sins  and  miseries,  praise  to  God's  goodness  and 
mercy, — prayer  is  our  occupation  as  mortals  and  sinners, 
praise  a  privilege  which  we  share  with  angels  and 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, — prayer  will  cease  with 
our  present  lives,  praise,  as  we  hope,  will  last  for  eter- 
nity. You  will  also  admit  that  the  truth  of  our  Bishop's 
words,  in  his  recent  charge, — "What  is  wanted,  is  to 
make  the  services  more  interesting  by  infusing  into 
them  more  life  and  reality,'''  so  as  to  have  a  "congre- 
gation uniting  heart  and  voice  in  prayer  and  praise 
to  God."  And,  says  Bishop  Jackson,  "that  mode  of 
conducting  the  Service  is  the  best  in  which  the  congre- 
gation can  join  in  most  heartily,  and  which  most 
animates  and  sustains  their  devotional  feelings." 

Now  I  believe  that  this  can  best  and  only  be  done, 


10 

and  that  the  congregation  can  only  join  heartily  and 
properly  by  the  use  of  a  musical  tone, — and  I  will  try 
to  prove  it  to  you. 

Oblige  me  by  reading  out  loud,  each  in  your  own 
manner  the  words  written  above  me, — pray  read  out 
loud  and  heartily,  and  read  to  the  end. 

(The  inscription,  printed  in  large  letters,  was  the 
well  known  passage  from  Shakspeare,  "  The  man  that 
hath  no  music  in  himself,  &c."  The  request  was  very 
generally  complied  with,  and  the  result  was,  of  course, 
a  Babel  of  confused  noise.) 

Now  hear  the  choir.  (The  choir  chanted  the  same 
in  a  monotone  on  G\) 

Now  try  and  read  with  the  choir  and  in  the  same  tone. 
(The  effect  was  very  striking,  and  elicited  loud  applause.) 

You  admit,  then,  that  if  you  are  to  join  in  acts  of 
worship  or  praise  heartily,  it  is  most  decorous,  and 
absolutely  necessary  to  do  so  in  a  musical  tone. 

You  have  now  admitted  the  principle,  the  staple,  the 
groundwork  of  what  is  vulgarly  called  "  Full  Cathedral 
Service."  All  the  rest,  chants,  services,  suffrages,  an- 
thems, hymns,  as  I  hope  to  show,  follow  as  a  necessary 
consequence. 

2.  In  the  next  place,  I  assert  that  a  Musical  Service 
is  the  most  natural,  and  most  in  accordance  with  the 
dictates  of  common  sense. 

A  chanted  service  is  sometimes  objected  to  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  "unnatural,"  "artificial."  Now  this 
is  not  the  proper  time  to  discuss  the  proper  meaning  of 
the  terms  "natural,"  and  "state  of  nature."  But,  if 
it  be  meant  by  "state  of  nature,"  that  man  originally 
"wild  in  woods  a  noble  savage  ran,"  that  he  was  only 
a  superior  kind  of  baboon  ;  that,  all  laws,  arts,  and 
civilisation, — that  all  the  comforts,  ornaments,  and 
decencies  of  polished  society, — that  all  the  cultivation  in 
fact  of  the  gifts  of  sense,  of  the  eye,  and  of  the  ear, 
and  also  of  the  intellect  and  abilities  with  which  God 
has    so    bountifully  endowed    him ;    that   all    these   are 


11 

debasing  corruptions, — artificial,  and  unnatural,  and 
therefore  ought  to  be  eschewed  and  repudiated ;  why 
we  must  return  to  the  habits  of  our  forefathers  of  old, 
we  must  dine  upon  acorns,  and  paint  our  bodies  blue. 

But  seriously,  our  whole  Liturgy  is  a  work  of  art, 
and  a  savage  would  not  be  likely  to  build  a  cathedral. 
We  advocate  employing  the  art  of  Architecture  to 
the  service  of  God, — why  not  the  art  of  Music?  Why 
not  consecrate  and  sanctify  to  promote  His  glory  and 
praise  all  the  arts  and  faculties,  and  powers  which  are 
His  gifts,  and  which  He  has  given  us  ? 

But,  I  repeat,  a  musical  service  is  the  most  natural. 

What  is  one  great  reason  why  our  congregations  are 
so  silent  in  Church?  I  am  sure  that  many  who  are 
silent  would  be  very  glad  to  speak  if  they  could  do  so 
in  the  way  that  nature  dictates,  i.  e.,  in  a  monotone,  a 
musical  tone,  or  chant.  People  go  to  Church,  and  in- 
tend fairly  to  join  in  the  responses,  but  in  practice  they 
do  not, — and  why  ?  because  the  present  way  of  attempt- 
ing to  say  them,  in  unmusical  tones  is  unnatural.  For 
congregational  worship  we  want  all  the  people  to  say  the 
same  icords  at  the  same  time ;  and  to  do  this  congrega- 
tion ally  and  heartily,  it  must  be  done,  as  you  have  ad- 
mitted, by  a  musical  harmonious  recitation  ;  there  cannot 
be  any  harmony  of  many  voices  pronouncing  the  same 
sounds  together  but  what  is  musical. 

You  must  know  that  all  the  ordinary  colloquial  tones 
of  the  human  voice  are  but  broken  fragments  of  musical 
notes.  They  are  all  notes,  though  broken  and  many 
harsh.  A  music  master  would  tell  you  that  the  tones 
of  the  voice  during  ordinary  conversation  lie  within  the 
compass  of  a  fifth,  ranging  between  C  and  G,  or  D  and 
A,  according  to  the  pitch.  Expressions  of  surprise 
ascend  sometimes  to  the  octave,  and  occasionally  to  the 
seventh.  Were  man  a  perfect  being,  his  common 
speech  would  be  melody.  Can  we  give  higher  praise 
to  a  human  voice  than  to  say  it  is  sweet  and  melodious  1 
Do  we  not  admire  most  a  musically  speaking  voice  ? 


12 

Now  a  musical  ear,  (I  don't  say  a  good  musical  ear,) 
is  much  more  common  than  is  generally  supposed.  If 
people  attempt  to  say  the  responses  all  together  in  un- 
musical tones,  see  what  difficulties  are  in  the  way. 
Each  man  hears  his  neighbours  around  him,  speaking 
each  in  his  own  time  and  in  his  own  tone.  Every  man's 
voice  sounds  prominently  and  individually,  and  the  dis- 
cord of  sound,  and  confusion  of  sense  become  perplex- 
ing. They  weary  you,  or  you  fancy  yourself  conspicuous, 
and  you  leave  off  speaking,  hardly  conscious  why, 
although  you  will  readily  feel  the  reason  if  you  attend 
to  your  sensations.  When,  however,  as  Mr  Hullah 
has  shown,  people  are  speaking  in  the  same  musical 
tone,  although  every  one  is  conscious  that  he  is  speak- 
ing, yet  he  scarcely  hears  his  own  voice,  it  is  lost  in  the 
general  body  of  sound.  Thus  it  is  that  many  well 
disposed  persons  in  Church  begin  and  attempt  to 
respond  aloud,  but  there  is  felt  to  be  a  something  that 
takes  away  their  zeal,  and  gradually  seals  their  lips, 
those  first  who  have  the  acutest  ears,  and  so  they  remain 
quiet,  and  you  only  hear  the  voice  of  the  parish  clerk 
and  the  school  children, — who  by  the  way  always  speak, 
when  they  speak  together,  in  a  chant.  Go  into  any 
school  and  hear  the  children  read  or  repeat  anything, 
and  you  will  soon  be  convinced  of  this,  in  fact,  when  a 
common  sentiment  is  expressed  by  a  number  of  persons 
in  musical  intonation  and  rhythm,  it  resembles  the 
measured  tread  of  a  well  disciplined  regiment ;  its  very 
order  is  expressive  of  earnestness,  solemnity,  and  force. 
But  the  same  thing  murmured  or  talked  prosaically 
resembles  rather  the  disorderly  walk  of  a  rabble,  con- 
fused, jostling  each  other,  with  stragglers  dropping  off 
on  all  sides. 

I  think,  then, 'you  will  admit  that  if  a  mass  of  peo- 
ple, speaking  together,  and  under  strong  religious 
impressions,  follow  the  dictates  of  nature,  they  will 
speak  in  the  same  time  and  tone,  i.  e.,  they  will  chant. 
Look   into  common    life,  and   you   invariably  find  that 


13 

when  people  are  speaking  out,  they  abandon  that  prosy 
tone  of  voice  which  we  consider  so  ''natural."  Cbil- 
dren  at  play,  sailors  singing  to  each  other  during  their 
work,  the  cries  in  the  streets,  the  cheers  of  a  mob, — 
these  are  vulgar  instances;  but  their  very  vulgarity 
is  a  proof  that  they  spring  from  universal  and  natural 
causes. 

If  a  child,  that  has  but  just  learnt  to  talk,  receive 
unkind  treatment  from  a  playfellow,  it  chants  out  its 
little  griefs  into  its  mother's  ear,  with  eyes  filled  with 
tears,  that  give  sufficient  evidence  of  sincerity  and 
naturalness.  When  children  want  to  obtain  any  in- 
dulgence, or  a  present,  we  must  all  acknowledge  that 
the  coaxing  toues  nature  suggests  to  them  for  ensuring 
the  success  of  their  petition,  have  much  more  affinity 
with  chanting  than  with  the  instructions  of  Walker  or 
Sheridan.  Once  more.  WThy  do  we  adopt  a  subdued 
and  civil  tone  of  voice  when  speaking  to  our  superiors? 
Would  any  one,  when  saying  his  prayers,  dare  to 
address  his  Maker  in  the  ordinary  tone  of  colloquial 
conversation?  We  must  either  preach  our  prayers,  or 
talk  our  prayers,  both  of  which  are  irreverent;  or  else 
we  must,  more  or  less  musically  or  unmusically  (and 
why  unmusically  ?)  chant  them. 

Chanting,  musically  or  unmusically,  is  the  natural 
key  in  which  vent  is  given  to  a  large  and  important 
class  of  devotional  feelings  ;  the  chanting  of  the  Church 
is  this  voice  correctly  timed  and  tuned  to  harmony. 
Chanting,  is  simply  reading  or  reciting  melodiously. 
Non-chanting,  common  reading  is  artificial.  No  one 
hears  an  uneducated  person  attempt  to  read  in  the 
same  tone  as  he  speaks.  What  we  call  "good  read- 
ing," is  an  artificial  drill,  the  correction  of  natural, 
undisciplined  locution.  Who  ever  reads  or  repeats  any- 
thing in  what  is  called  his  natural,  i.  e.  his  talking 
voice?  and  if  this  be  natural,  why  is  the  great  diffi- 
culty of  the  "  art  of  reading"  in  getting  children  out 
of  what  we  call  a  "  sing-song,"  i.  e.  a  chant? 

2 


14 

3  Another  excellence  of  a  musical  service  is  its 
utility.  Not  to  dwell  on  the  fact  that  chanting  is  less 
exertion  to  the  minister  than  reading,  (for  this  perhaps 
we  need  not  consider,)  words  when  chanted  are  more 
easily  and  better  heard  than  when  they  are  read.  "  In 
small  buildings,"  says  Sir  J.  Herschell,  "  the  velocity 
of  sound  is  such  that  the  dimensions  of  the  building 
are  traversed  by  the  reflected  sound  in  a  time  too 
small  to  admit  of  the  echo  being  distinguished  from 
the  principal  sound.  In  great  ones  the  echo  is  heard 
after  the  principal  sound  has  ceased  ;  and  if  the  build- 
ing be  so  constructed  as  to  return  several  echoes  in 
different  times,  the  effect  will  be  unpleasant."  This 
is  one  reason  why  it  is  a  greater  exertion  to  read,  and 
more  difficult  to  hear,  the  Lessons  than  the  Prayers  in 
large  Churches — for  we  all,  more  or  less,  chant  the 
prayers.  A  moderate  voice,  pitched  as  good  chant- 
ing requires,  will,  by  giving  time  for  the  echo,  easily 
reach  a  point  quite  inaccessible  if  reading  in  a  talking 
voice  be  adopted. 

4.  I  shall  not  at  present  dwell  on  the  antiquity  of, 
or  the  authority  for,  a  Musical  Service.  I  am  now 
only  appealing  to  common  sense.  I  will,  therefore, 
only  allege  one  more  argument — its  universality  This, 
by  the  way,  also  proves  its  "naturalness." 

It  is  certain,  that  vestiges  of  this  custom  have  been 
found  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  in  every 
age.  It  is  certain,  that  this  melodious  voice  of  prayer, 
so  far  from  being  unnatural — as  a  few  men  of  one 
short  generation  have  presumed  to  call  it — is  the  very 
voice  which  the  most  untaught  children  of  men,  no 
less  than  the  most  civilised,  have  adopted  in  their  more 
solemn  supplications,  whether  to  known  or  unknown 
God,  in  all  ages  and  generations  of  mankind.  This 
also  answers  the  ridiculous  assertion  of  its  being  pecu- 
liarly Popish.  The  natives  of  New  Zealand,  in  their 
Churches,  have  assumed  a  kind  of  chant,  in  which 
they  join  with  so  united  an  effect  that  but  for  its  power, 


15 

it  might  be  mistaken  for  the  voice  of  one  mau.  They 
make  their  responses  in  a  low  monotone,  which,  espe- 
cially in  a  large  congregation,  has  an  indescribably 
solemn  effect.  The  sound  has  been  not  inaptly  com- 
pared by  Bishop  Selwyn  to  the  swell  of  a  distant  surf. 
In  the  narratives  of  Captain  Cook  and  the  navigators 
of  the  last  century,  we  read  that  this  custom  was  found 
throughout  the  South  Sea  islanders.  The  same  pre- 
vailed among  the  North  American  Indians.  Bishop 
Heber  met  with  a  whole  nation  in  the  East  Indies  who 
chant — the  Bheels.  All  the  Mahometans  chant.  So  do 
the  Brahmins.  So  do  the  Buddhists,  as  we  learn  from 
Hue's  travels.  All  the  prayers  of  the  Jews  are  offered  up 
in  a  kind  of  chant.  In  fact,  intonation  is  to  the  present 
day  (as  it  was  anciently)  the  custom  among  Orientals, 
even  when  reading  privately.  "So  deeply  rooted, ':  says 
a  writer  in  the  '  Parish  Choir,'  "  is  the  tradition  of  this 
custom  in  the  Heathen  mind,  that  the  practice  of  read- 
ing the  prayers,  adopted  by  the  generality  of  our 
missionaries,  forms  in  itself  a  great  obstacle  to  their 
success."  They  cannot  conceive,  and  will  not  be  in- 
duced to  believe,  that  any  act  of  prayer,  or  of  public 
devotion  can  be  effectively  offered,  unless  robed  in  the 
decorous  garb  of  a  chant.  The  same  writer  quotes  the 
testimony  of  a  missionary  in  India,  "that  when  read- 
ing the  prayers  of  the  Church  he  could  not  induce  the 
people  to  listen  to  him  ;  no  sooner,  however,  did  he 
adopt  the  chant  by  way  of  experiment,  than  they  not 
only  listened,  but  expressed  the  greatest  delight;"  and 
this  was  at  Canandugoody.  near  Tanjore,  Madras  Pre- 
sidency. Mr.  Layard  gives  an  account  of  the  chanted 
service  of  the  Nestorian  Christians,  in  Kurdistan,  who 
retain  the  same  customs  as  those  which  prevailed  in 
the  ancient  Chaldean  Church.  Charles  Lamb,  in  one 
of  his  Essays  of  "  Elia,"  speaks  of  the  Quakers  de- 
livering their  exhortations,  or  expounding  sermons,  or 
addresses,  with  a  "low  buzzing  musical  sound;"  and 
Macaulay,  in    one    of   his    late    volumes,   speaks    of   the 


16 

"  strange  chant"  used  by  George  Fox,  their  founder. 
In  fact,  very  many  of  those  who  dissent  from  the 
Church,  and  have  a  pious  horror  of  anything  like 
chanting,  do  themselves  really  chant  their  prayers,  only 
they  do  not  do  it  very  musically.  If  you  have  ever 
heard  extempore  praying  from  the  mouths  of  illiterate 
persons,  you  must  have  been  struck  with  the  rude,  un- 
modulated, but  decided  chant  in  which  it  is  delivered. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  this  point,  because, 
the  plain  chant,  the  monotone  is,  as  I  said,  the  ground- 
work, the  staple,  the  warp,  of  what  is  vulgarly  but  in- 
correctly called  the  Cathedral  Service.  All  the  rest  is  the 
natural  development  and  consequence  of  the  principle  of 
a  plain  chant,  or  song,  or  monotone,  or  musical  tone. 

I  shall,  however,  here  introduce  a  few  authorities  in 
support  of  a  choral  service ;  not  because  I  think  it 
needs  such  authorities,  nor  because  I  regard  those  that 
I  shall  bring  forward  as  high  authorities  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  principally  to  show  you  that  the  principle  for 
which  I  contend  has  been  admitted  by  those  who  can- 
not be  suspected  of  any  bigoted  prejudice  in  favour  of 
the  Choral  Service  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  of  any 
secret  bias  towards  Popish,  or   semi-Popish  sympathies. 

Mr.  Law,  in  his  well-known  "Serious  Call,"  ad- 
vises us  to  "begin  all  our  prayers  with  a  psalm.  I 
do  not  mean,"  he  says,  "that  you  should  read  over  a 
psalm,  but  you  should  chant  or  sing  one  of  those 
psalms  which  we  commonly  call  the  reading  psalms. 
For  singing  is  the  proper  use  of  a  psalm — a  psalm  is  a 
sacred  song  to  be  sung — a  psalm  only  read  is  very 
much  like  a  prayer  that  is  only  looked  over.  The 
method  of  chanting  a  psalm,  such  as  is  used  in  some 
Churches,  is  such  as  all  persons  are  capable  of.  The 
change  of  voice  in  thus  chanting  of  a  psalm  is  so  small 
and  natural  that  every  one  is  able  to  do  it,  and  yet  suffi- 
cient to  raise  and  keep  up  the  gladness  of  our  hearts. 

"  The  difference  between  singing  and  reading  a 
psalm,"    he    continues,    "will    easily   be   understood,    if 


17 

you  consider  the  difference  between  reading  and  sing- 
ing a  common  song  that  you  like.  Whilst  you  only 
read  it,  you  only  like  it,  and  that  is  all ;  but  as  soon  aa 
you  sing  it,  then  you  enjoy  it.  You  feel  the  same 
spirit  within  you  that  seems  to  be  in  the  words ; — a 
song  of  praise  not  sung,  is  very  like  any  other  good 
thing  not  made  use  of." 

This  is  very  true.  And  yet  you  may  hear  most 
excellent,  conscientious,  and  religious  people  who  think 
it  quite  "shocking"  and  "Popish"  to  chant  a  prayer 
— singing,  and  to  most  airy  and  pretty  tunes,  with  all 
sorts  of  turns  and  shakes  and  flourishes,  hymns  that 
are  in  fact  most  solemn  prayers.  There  are  very  few 
stanzas  in  the  hymns  of  Wesley  and  Watts,  in  which 
the  language  of  prayer  is  not  used  ;  and  none  surely 
will  couteud  that  a  prayer  is  less  a  prayer,  whether  it 
be  in  verse  or  prose.  What  a  solemn  prayer  is  the 
Evening  Hymn !  Yet  who  would  think  that  publicly 
reading  it  is  the  most  proper  use  of  the  Evening  Hymn? 
Again,  our  National  Anthem  is,  from  first  to  last  a  most 
beautiful  prayer.  But  did  ever  any  one  insist  on  talking 
through  "God  Save  the  Queen,"  because  he  had  con- 
scientious scruples  against  "chanting  prayer"? 

The  spiritually-minded  Henry  Martyn,  who  sacri- 
ficed his  life  in  the  East  as  a  self-devoted  missionary, 
says  of  the  service  of  his  College  Chapel  at  Cambridge, 
"  The  music  of  the  chant  and  anthem  seemed  in  my 
ears  as  the  sounds  of  Heaven  My  heart  ascended  to 
God  my  Saviour,  and  I  was  inclined  to  have  it  drawn 
out  in  love  and  tenderness  to  God  and  man.  During 
the  anthem  I  seemed  to  have  a  foretaste  of  Heaven, 
and  could  have  wished  to  die  or  to  live  alway  in  that 
frame  in  which  I  found  myself."  And  again;  "In  my 
walk  I  was  greatly  cast  down,  except  for  a  short  time 
on  my  return,  when  as  I  was  singing,  or  rather  chant- 
ing, some  petitions  in  a  low  plaintive  voice,  I  insen- 
sibly felt  myself  sweetly  engaged  in  prayer." 

"  The  best  chants,"  says  the  Edinburgh  Review,  in  a 
2*       - 


18 

late  number,  "are  the  simplest  kind  of  music  known, 
consisting  of  a  few  notes,  perpetually  reiterated.  A 
congregation  can  far  more  easily  learn  to  join  in  this 
kind  of  psalmody,  than  in  the  ordinary  hymn-tunes, 
which  are  much  more  complex.  We  know  village 
churches  where  the  whole  congregation  join  in  the 
strains  of  Farrant,  and  Tallis,  and  the  Gregorian  tones ; 
and  it  is  found  that  when  the  people  are  thus  trained 
to  take  an  intelligent  part  in  the  musical  portion  of  the 
Liturgy,  they  will  not  leave  their  responses  in  the 
prayers  to  the  listless  articulation  of  the  clerk." 

•■  The  Church  Service,"  says  the  Westminister  Review, 
(of  which  Sir  W.  Molesworth  was  the  founder  and  edi- 
tor,) was  composed  to  the  measure  of  a  musical  recita- 
tion, and  was  not  intended  to  be  read,  in  our  sense  of 
the  term,  unless  as  an  occasional  exception  to  the  com- 
mon rule.  The  rule  is  now  the  exception ;  and  hence 
arises  much  of  the  force  of  the  objections  of  Dissenters 
to  the  monotonous  and  vain  repetitions  of  the  Liturgy." 
(Of  course  you  don't  expect  me  to  agree  quite  with  the 
Westminister  Reviewer.)  "  They  are  certainly  mono- 
tonous when  read  or  repeated  in  the  tone  of  a  person 
speaking,  but  when  chanted  or  sung,  as  originally  in- 
tended, with  varying  cadences,  the  effect  is  wholly  diffe- 
rent. The  same  words  call  up  new  emotions  with  every 
new  form  of  musical  expression." 

My  next  three  witnesses  are  three  eminent  ministers 
of  the  three  #  denominations  of  Protestant  Dissenters. 

1.  Mr.  Thomas  Binney,  a  well-known  Minister  of 
the  Independents,  published,  not  long  since,  what  he 
called  an  Oration  and  Argument,  entitled,  "The  Ser- 
vice of  Song  in  the  House  of  the  Lord  "  In  this,  he 
strongly  advocates  chanting.  He  enjoins  the  anti- 
phonal — or  alternate  chanting  of  the  Psalms,  on  Scrip- 
tural grounds.  He  speaks  of  "  those  heavenly-descended 
hymns,  technically  lenominated  Benedictvs  and  Magni- 
ficat." He  mentions  the  tradition  about  the  Te  Denm, 
that  when   S.    Augustin  was  baptized   by   S.    Ambrose, 

•Two. 


19 

while  they  were  at  the  font,  they  sung  this  hymn  by 
inspiration,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance.  "This 
story,"  says  he  "  which  the  learned  reject  as  fabulous, 
is  precisely  what  Paul  teaches  as  having  occurred  in  the 
Primitive  Church.  It  had  Psalms  and  Psalmody  direct 
from  Heaven.91  To  those  who  would  object  to  singing 
a  prayer,  a  Creed,  or  text  from  Scripture,  Mr.  Binney 
says,  "  The  Service  of  Song  in  the  House  of  the  Lord, 
may  include  not  only  direct  praise,  but  all  the  exercises 
and  emotions  of  the  heart.  The  varied  vicissitudes  of 
the  inward  life,  may  find  fitting  expression  here:  the 
works  and  ways  of  God  ;  the  great  facts  of  our  spiritual 
Redemption  (i.  e.  the  Creed  ;)  all  that  faith  realizes — all 
that  hope  desires  and  expects — may  find  in  the  psalmody 
of  the  Church  some  form  of  appropriate  united  utterance." 

I  may  add,  that  there  is  published,  for  the  use  of  Mr. 
Binney's  congregation,  and  chanted,  I  believe,  in  his 
meeting-house  in  London,  a  collection  of  psalms  and 
hymns,  gathered,  many  of  them,  from  the  music  of  the 
ancient  Church,  including  the  Gregorian  tones.  I  see, 
too,  that  they  have  been  lately  advertising  for  a  "  School- 
master and  Precentor.''1 

2.  Mr.  Beecher,  the  brother  of  the  authoress  of 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  a  Baptist*  minister  at  New 
York,  describing  a  choral  service  he  attended  at  Strat- 
ford-on-Avon,  says,  "The  portions  which  most  affected 
me  were,  the  prayers  and  responses,  which  the  choir 
sang  ;  and  it  seemed  as  though  I  heard  not  with  my 
ear,  but  with  my  soul.  I  was  dissolved ;  my  whole 
being  seemed  irresistibly,  yet  gently  drawn  towards 
God  When  in  the  prayers,  breathed  forth  in  strains 
of  sweet,  simple,  solemn  music,  the  love  of  Christ  was 
recognized,  how  I  longed  then  to  give  utterance  to  what 
that  love  seemed  to  me.  Whenever  an  '  Amen'  oc- 
curred, it  was  given  by  the  choir,  accompanied  by  the  or- 
gan and  congregation.  Oh  !  that  swell  and  cadence  ring 
in  my  ear  yet!  Not  once,  not  a  single  time  did  it  occur 
in  that  service   from  beginning  to  end,  without  bring- 

•  Congregationalism 


20 

ing  tears  into  my  eyes.  I  never  knew — I  never  dreamed 
before,  of  what  heart  there  was  in  the  word  Amen!" 

3.  "  Music,"  says  Dr.  dimming,  the  well-known 
Presbyterian,  "may  be  regarded  as  a  handmaid  of 
Christian  worship,  auxiliary  to  the  effort  of  the  wor- 
shipper,— an  interpreter,  in  short,  of  those  deep  and 
thrilling  emotions  of  the  Christian  heart,  of  which  song 
alone  can  be  the  appropriate  exponent  and  vehicle." 
"  And,"  asks  Dr.  Cumming,  "if  we  are  to  have  music 
at  all,  why  not  have  the  best  music,  and  in  the  best 
manner  ?  Why  should  the  psalmody  of  our  congrega- 
tions be  a  penance  to  the  musical  ear  ?" 

Lastly,  as  to  the  Popish  tendency  of  chanting,  hear 
Dr.  Cumming.  "I  think,"  says  be,  "the  chant,  the 
most  purely  Protestant  music :  the  common  tune  and 
metrical  hymn  are  God's  Word,  shaped  and  adapted  to 
man's  music,  but  the  chant  is  God's  Word,  retained  as 
the  Spirit  gave  it,  and  man's  music  following  and  un- 
folding it," 

I  may  mention,  that  I  have  seen  in  a  newspaper  this 
morning,  (March  13th,)  an  extract  from  the  Noncon- 
formist, describing  the  introduction  of  a  "  Biblical 
Liturgy"  into  the  chapel  of  a  Mr.  David  Thomas,  at 
Stock  well,  last  Sunday  week.  The  service  commenced 
with  singing  a  "  Sanctus,"  and  was  closed  with  a 
'*  chant."  "  The  chant,"  says  the  Nonconformist, 
"  strikes  us  as  exquisitely  beautiful — full  of  tenderness 
and  truest  devotion  ;  every  Canticle  (?)  or  verse,  ending 
with  the  prayer,  '  Take  not  Thy  Holy  Spirit  from 
me:'  which  is  thus,  after  the  manner  of  the  136th 
Psalm,  the  refrain  of  the  entire  chant.  The  idea  is  a 
most  felicitous  one."  (The  Nonconformist  does  not 
seem  to  be  aware  that  this  "  felicitous  idea"  has  been 
the  custom  of  the  Church  from  the  beginning.)  "  The 
idea  is  a  most  felicitous  one ;  it  gives  transcendent 
power  and  impressiveness  to  the  Psalm.  The  prayer 
becomes  an  intense  and  passionate  pleading .  Its  recital  by 
a  whole  congregation  must  be  well-nigh  overpowering." 


21 

To  those  testimonies  I  will  only  add  one  more  of  a 
different  kind. 

'•Some  years  ago,"  writes  a  correspondent,  in  a  re- 
cent number  of  the  Clerical  Journal,  "1  returned  from 
France,  after  a  residence  there  of  some  years,  in  com- 
pany with  a  well-educated  Roman-Catholic  gentleman. 
He  stayed  with  me  some  weeks,  and  together  we  went 
to  see  the  sights  of  London.  One  day  I  asked  whether 
he  would  like  to  visit  Westminster  Abbey  ;  he  said  he 
did  nut  wish  to  attend  service,  but  should  like  to  see 
the  building.  We  went  in  the  afternoon,  and,  while 
inspecting  the  monuments,  service  commenced.  As  the 
words  of  the  Magnificat,  chanted  by  the  choir,  came 
floating  on  the  air,  he  paused  abruptly,  listened  while 
the  music  lasted  with  the  greatest  reverence,  and  then 
whispered  '  allons  y ;'  we  went,  we  stayed  throughout 
the  service,  to  which  my  friend  paid  the  greatest  at- 
tention. As  we  left  the  Abbey,  he  said  to  me  very 
gravely,  '  My  good  friend,  you  cannot  think  how  power- 
fully I  am  affected  by  the  service  I  have  just  heard. 
W7ould  I  could  join  in  it  regularly.  You  know,'  he 
continued,  '  that  the  bulk  of  my  countrymen  are  dis- 
satisfied with  many  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman 
Church ;  but  Protestantism,  the  doctrines  of  which 
they  prefer  generally,  is  presented  to  them  in  such  a 
repulsive  aspect,  that  they  are  deterred  from  enter- 
taining it.  Those  long  and  ill-digested  extemporaneous 
prayers,  in  which  no  one  can  join  the  minister — those 
hymns,  devoid  of  beauty  and  badly  sung — the  coldness 
of  the  service  frightens  us.  No  !'  said  he,  '  Protes- 
tantism, as  now  known  in  France,  will  make  but  slow 
progress;  but,  were  a  Church  presented  to  us,  offering 
Episcopal  jurisdiction,  the  doctrines  of  Protestantism 
and  such  a  public  service  as  I  have  just  heard,  depend 
upon  it  the  bulk  of  our  educated  countrymen  would  euter 
its  communion.  We  wish,'  said  he,  'for  reformation, 
we  want  to  be  members  of  a  Church,  not  Dissenters  " 

I  will   now  appeal  to  what  I   myself  consider   much 


22 

greater  authorities  than  those  I  have  cited.  I  mean, 
the  authority  of  the  Bible,  and  the  witness  and  practice 
of  the  Church. 

First  of  all,  then,  as  far  as  has  been  revealed  to  us, 
the  holy  and  blessed  inhabitants  of  heaven  above  "rest 
not  day  or  night,"  singing  ceaseless  songs  of  praise. 
At  the  Creation,  "the  morning  stars  sang  together, 
and  all  the  Sous  of  God  shouted  for  joy ;"  and  at  the 
Redemption,  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  chanted 
an  anthem  of  praise.  When  heaven  was  opened  to  the 
vision  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  and  *he  saw  the  Lord 
sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up,  and  the 
Seraphim  doing  their  homage,  "one  cried  unto  an- 
other (here  is  antiphonal — alternate — singing)  and  said, 
'Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  is  the  Lord  of  Hosts;  the  whole 
earth  is  full  of  His  glory.'  " 

And,  in  like  manner,  the  Church  triumphant,  in  the 
Revelation  to  S.  John,  was  praising  G-od  after  this 
manner.  So  (ch.  vii.)  when  "  the  multitude  (that  repre- 
sent the  people)  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Salvation  to 
our  God,  Who  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the 
Lamb.'"  And  then  the  angels  and  elders  (the  Priest- 
hood) perform  their  part,  saying,  "Amen,  Blessing, 
and  Glory,  and  Wisdom,  and  Thanksgiving,  and  Honour, 
and  Power,  and  Might,  be  unto  our  God." 

They  are  revealed,  in  like  manner,  in  Chapter  xix. 
"I  heard  a  great  voice  of  much  people  in  Heaven, 
saying,  'Alleluia!'"  This  they  repeat.  Then  the  twenty- 
four  elders  take  up  their  part  as  before,  and  answer, 
"Amen,  Alleluia!"  Then  a  voice  came  "out  of  the 
Throne,  saying,  'Praise  our  God!'"  upon  which  the  peo- 
ple resume  their  part,  and  answer  again,  "as  it  were 
the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of  many 
waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  mighty  thunderings,  saying, 
'  Alleluia,  for  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth  !' " 

To  come  now  to  earth : — 

The  earliest  specimen  we  have  of  a  choral  hymn  of 
praise  in  either  profane  or  sacred  story,  is  the  thanks- 


23 

giving   psalm  of   the   Israelites  after   the   passage  of  the 
Sea.      "  Then  sang  Muses  and  the  children  of  Israel 
this  song  unto  the  Lord, 

"  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously  : 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the  sea  !" 

"  And  Miriam  the  prophetess  took  a  timbrel  in  her 
hand,  and  all  the  women  followed  her  with  timbrels  and 
dances.  And  Miriam  answered  them;"  i.  e.,  she  and  the 
women  sung  the  response  to  the  choruses  of  men — 

"  Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously  : 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the  sea  !" 

The  song  of  Deborah  and  Barak  seems  to  have  been 
chanted  or  sung  in  alternate  strains.  When  David 
returned  from  the  slaughter  of  Goliath,  we  read,  "the 
women  came  out  of  all  the  cities  of  Israel  to  meet 
King  Saul,  with  tabrets,  with  joy,  and  with  instruments 
of  music.  And  the  women  answered  one  another,  and  said, 
(i.  '..,  one  choir,)  "  Saul  has  slain  his  thousands," — and 
then  the  response.   "And  David  his  ten  thousands." 

The    exertions    of  the    man    after   God's   own    heart, 

King  David,  to  regulate  the  Tabernacle  music,  were  re- 
ts '  o  ' 

markable.  We  find  him  not  disdaining  to  mingle 
with  the  company  of  singers,  but  uniting  to  swell  the 
general  thanksgiving.  He  seems  to  have  composed  as 
well  the  music  as  the  poetry  of  the  tabernacle.  He 
multiplied  the  number  of  performers ;  determined  the 
distinctive  situation  of  each  ;  introduced  many  new  in- 
struments, and  with  the  most  sedulous  care  acted  as 
the  director  of  the  whole  band.  The  service  of  God 
was  literally  continuous.  We  are  told,  (1  Chron.  ix. 
33.)  "  The  singers,  the  chiefs  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Le- 
vi tes,  were  employed  in  that  work  clay  and  night."  For 
this  purpose  they  were  divided  into  twenty-four  courses, 
and  were  so  greatly  multiplied  in  number,  that  towards 
the  close  of  David's  life,  he  enumerates  "  four  thousand 
who   praised   the    Lord    with    instruments,"    and    "the 


24 

number  of  them,  with  their  brethren,  that  were  instructed 
in  the  songs  of  the  Lord,  were  two  hundred  fourscore 
and  eight." 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  service  of  God  in  the 
Temple  built  by  the  magnificent  Solomon  had  no  less 
grandeur  than  under  King  David.  We  read  that  he 
introduced  into  it,  among  other  treasures,  "all  the 
instruments"  which  David  his  father  had  dedicated, 
adding  harps  of  peculiar  richness,  and  installing  the 
musicians  in  their  respective  offices.  The  singers  in 
his  Temple  were  all  "  arrayed  in  white  linen," — i.  e.  sur- 
plices. He  was  also  himself  a  diligent  composer ;  his 
songs  being  a  thousand  and  five.  We  read,  also,  that 
the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  mark  His  approbation  of 
Solomon's  piety  at  the  Temple  dedication.  "  It  came 
to  pass,  as  the  trumpeters  and  singers  were  as  one  to 
make  one  sound  to  be  heard  in  praising  and  thanking 
the  Loud,"  (here  is  unison,')  "and  when  they  lift  up 
their  voice  with  the  trumpets,  and  cymbals,  and  instru- 
ments of  music,  and  praised  the  Lord,  saying,  4  For  He 
is  good ;  for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever' : — that  then 
the  house  was  filled  with  a  cloud,"  (i.  e.  the  token  of 
the  visible  Presence  of  God,)  "  even  the  House  of  the 
Lord."  * 

We  read  of  similar  care  for  the  music  and  service  of 
God  in  the  reigns  of  Jehoash,  Hezekiah,  and  Josiah  ; 
and,  after  the  captivity,  in  the  books  of  Nehemiah  and 
Ezra :  and  thus  it  continued  till  the  days  of  our  Lord. 

To  come  now  to  the  New  Testament.  It  is  acknow- 
ledged that  the  public  service  of  the  primitive  Church 
was  modelled,  in  a  great  degree,  on  that  of  the  Temple. 
The  first  Christians  attended  "  daily  in  the  Temple  ;" 
and  in  their  own  assemblies  they  continued  the  use  of 
those  Psalms  which  formed  the  groundwork  of  their  an- 
cient Liturgy.  This  continued  use  became  one  of  the 
chief  characteristics  of  Christian  worship.  And  with 
the   Psalms   themselves,  it   is   not   to   be   believed    that 

*2  Chron.  v.  12,  13. 


25 

they  (lid  not  adopt  the  manner  of  their  performance 
also  If  they  retained  the  Psalms,  they  would,  of  course, 
retain  the  music,  the  tunes  to  which  they  were  sung. 
Our  Lord  sang  a  hymn  with  His  disciples  on  the  night 
preceding  His  Passion.  Paul  and  Silas  in  the  prison 
at  midnight  "  prayed  and  sang  praises,"  (or,  as  it  might 
more  accurately  be  translated,  "praying  hymned)  unto 
God."  S.  James  bids  his  converts  to  "sing  psalms." 
S  Paul  tells  the  Colossians  to  "  admonish  one  another" 
(i.  e.  antiphonally,)  "in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spi- 
ritual songs  ;"  and  the  Ephesians,  "speaking  to  your- 
selves" (i.  e.  antiphonally  again)  "in  psalms,  and  hymns, 
and  spiritual  songs,  singing  and  making  melody  in  your 
heart  to  the  Lord." 

To  come  to  history — Pliny  writing  to  the  Emperor 
Trajan  (a.  d.  104)  a  very  few  years  after  the  death 
of  S.  John,  says  of  the  Christians'  worship,  that 
they  used  to  "sing  alternately  a  hymn  to  Christ  as 
God."  S.  Ignatius,  who  was  at  that  time  Bishop  of 
Antioch,  is  said  (like  Isaiah)  to  have  seen  a  vision  of 
angels  praising  God  alternately,  and  he  conducted  the 
worship  in  his  own  Church  on  that  model.  S.  Augus- 
tine tells  us  that  in  the  Church  of  S.  Athanasius,  at 
Alexandria,  the  champion  of  the  orthodox  faith  in  the 
fourth  century,  "  he  that  read  the  Psalms  used  so  little 
variation  of  voice,  that  he  seemed  rather  to  pronounce 
than  to  sing."  He  elsewhere  tells  us  that  the  same 
manner  of  singing  prevailed  throughout  all  Africa.  S. 
Basil  the  Great,  Bishop  of  Caesarea,  in  Syria,  speaks  of 
it  as  the  received  custom  of  all  the  East ;  describing 
the  worship  in  his  Church,  he  says — "dividing  our- 
selves into  two  parts,  we  sing  antiphonally  one  to 
another  ;  sometimes  we  permit  one  alone  to  begin  the 
Psalm,  and  the  rest  join  in  the  close  of  every  verse." 

About  the  same  time  we  read  of  attention  paid  to 
this  matter  by  Damasus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  soon 
afterwards  by  S.  Chrysostom,  at  Constantinople.  S.  Am- 
brose, Bishop  of  Milan,  in   the   same  century,  bestowed 

3 


26 

much  pains  in  arranging  the  ancient  hymn  tunes  or 
tones  or  chants  of  the  Church.  He  tells  us  that  in  his 
Church  "from  the  responsories  of  the  Psalms,  and 
singing  of  men,  women,  virgins,  and  children,  there  re- 
sulted an  harmonious  noise  like  the  waves  of  the  sea." 
About  the  same  time  S.  Hilary,  Bishop  of  Poitiers,  in 
Gaul,  says,  "Let  him  that  stands  without  the  Church 
hear  the  voice  of  the  people  praying ;  let  him  perceive 
the  glorious  sound  of  our  hymns,  and  hear  the  responses 
of  our  devout  confession  in  the  offices  of  the  divine  Sa- 
craments." In  the  next  century,  S.  Jerome  tells  us  that 
the  hearty  '  Amen'  of  the  people  in  his  day  sounded 
like  a  thunderclap. 

In  the  seventh  century,  the  Church  tunes  or  tones 
were  re-collected  and  re-arranged  and  reformed  by  Gre- 
gory the  Great,  Bishop  of  Rome,  from  whom  the  old 
Church  music  is  frequently  called  Gregorian.  This  is 
the  foundation  and  groundwork  and,  as  it  were,  the 
elements  of  all  the  finest  old  Church  music 

You  are  all  doubtless  aware  that  the  service  of  the 
Church  was  entirely  a  musical  service  throughout  the 
Middle  Ages  down  to  the  Reformation. 

So  it  was,  and  after  the  Reformation  too,  as  I  shall 
show  you. 

You  all  well  know  that  one  of  the  great  improvements 
in  our  Reformation  was, — that,  whereas  before,  the  ser- 
vice was  written  and  performed  in  the  Latin  language, 
— now  we  have  the  service  in  the  vulgar  or  common 
tongue  that  it  may  be  "  understanded  of  the  people." 

Again,  whereas  before  the  Reformation,  there  was  a 
great  multiplicity  of  service  books,  that  now  we  have 
one  "  Common  Prayer  Book," — in  the  Preface  of  which 
we  read,  "  Whereas  heretofore  there  hath  been  great 
diversity  in  saying  and  singing  in  Churches  within  this 
realm ;  some  following  Salisbury  use,  some  the  use  of 
Bangor,  some  of  York,  some  of  Lincoln ;  now  from 
henceforth  all  the  whole  realm  shall  have  but  one  use."* 

If  a  Roman  Catholic   were  to  call   ours  (as  they  do 

*  [English  Prayer  Book.] 


27 

sometime*,)  a  now  Cliurch,  and  ask  where  it  was  before 
Luther,  English  Churchmen  would,  I  trust,  be  able  to 
answer  that  ours  is  DO  new  Church,  but  the  old  Catholic 
Church  of  the  Apostles,  purified  from  the  corruptions 
which  we  believe  Rome  had  engrafted  upon  it  So  also 
we  have  the  old  Liturgy,  the  framework  of  which,  as 
well  as  much  of  its  substance,  has  come  down  to  us 
from  the  Apostolic  age;  and  with  the  old  Liturgy  we 
would  retain  also  that  old  way  of  using  it,  which  is 
commonly  called  the  chant,  which  has  likewise  come 
down  from  the  Apostles'  days,  and  which  was  purified, 
and  simplified,  and  sanctioned  by  our  Reformers. 

In  1544,  the  Litany  was  no  sooner  translated  into 
English,  than  it  was  set  to  a  simple  form  of  the  old 
music  by  Archbishop  Cranmer.  This  was  the  first  part 
of  the  Prayer  Book  that  was  used  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
and  the  chant  to  which  Cranmer  set  it,  and  which  is 
supposed  to  be  as  ancient  as  any  chant  possessed  by  the 
Western  Church,  has  been  used  with  it  ever  since  to 
this  day. 

In  1549  appeared  King  Edward  VI. 's  First  Prayer 
Book.  In  this  the  injunctions  for  singing  the  different 
parts  of  the  Communion  office  are  imperative. 

In  1550,  the  entire  Prayer  Book,  including  Versicles, 
Responses,  Canticles,  Collects,  and  Athanasian  Creed,  to- 
gether with  all  parts  of  the  Communion  office,  including 
Creed,  Offertory,  Sanctus,  Gloria  in  excelsis,  Collects  and 
Anthems,  and  the  Burial  Service  also,  were  set  to  the  old 
music  and  published  by  John  Merbecke,  Organist  of 
Windsor,  and  called  "The  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
Noted,"  i.  e.  with  the  musical  notes. 

Merbecke  was  a  zealous  Reformer.  He  wrote  out  a 
concordance  of  Holy  Scripture  with  his  own  hand.  He 
was  condemned  to  be  burnt  for  his  Protestantism,  under 
Queen  Mary,  along  with  some  others  who  actually  suf- 
fered. Merbecke,  however,  escaped  through  his  good 
conduct.  Fox,  the  author  of  the  "Book  of  Martyrs," 
says  of  Merbecke  in  the  2nd  edition  of  his   '  Acts  and 


28 

Monuments,'  in  1858,  "he  yet  liveth,  God  be  praised, 
and  yet  to  this  present  singeth  merrily,  and  playeth  on 
the  organs." 

Merbecke's  book  was  no  new  composition,  but  simply 
an  adaptation  to  the  English  Liturgy  of  that  music  and 
those  melodies  which  had  been  in  use  in  the  Church 
Service  from  times  immemorial.  His  book  contains  the 
authorized  music  to  the  Reformed  Liturgy,  as  used  and 
performed  in  the  Chapel  Royal  of  King  Edward  VI. 
There  is  scarcely  an  instance  of  more  than  one  note  set 
to  a  syllable ;  and  this  was  most  probably  the  result  of 
the  known  wishes  of  Archbishop  Cranmer,  who  not 
only  desired  the  banishment  of  figured  music  from  the 
Ohurch,  but  the  simplification  of  the  plain  song  so  that 
it  would  be  clear  and  adapted  to  the  sense  and  under- 
standing of  the  people.*  Merbecke's  book  contains  the 
groundwork  of  the  plain  song  as  used  in  our  cathedrals 
from  the  Reformation  to  the  present  day. 

Passing  over  the  dismal  reign  of  Queen  Mary, — as 
soon  as  Queen  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne,  she  issued 
(in  1559)  an  injunction  that  "there  be  a  modest  and 
distinct  song  so  used  in  all  parts  of  the  common  prayers 
in  the  Church  that  the  same  may  be  as  plainly  under- 
handed as  if  it  were  read  without  singing."  x\nd  in 
the  Rubric  of  the  Prayer  Book  published  in  her  reign 
it  is  said, — "  To  the  end  the  people  may  the  better  hear, 
in  such  places  where  they  do  sing,  there  shall  the 
Lessons  be  sung  in  a  plain  tune,  after  the  manner  of 
distinct  reading :  and  likewise  the  Epistle  and  Gospel." 

Merbecke's  book  contained  only  single  notes, — i.  e. 
only  the  melody.  In  the  following  year  (1560)  ap- 
peared '  Day's  Service  Book,'  which  was  harmonized. 
Similar  books   were  published    by  the  celebrated    Tallis, 

♦Merbeeke  was  employed  by  Cranmer  to  reform  the  Church  music  of 
the  time,  and  so  to  restore  the  ancient  plain  son;*,  as  a  substitute  for 
the  figured  style  then  generally  adopted.  Reformation,  resioration  of 
what  was  pure  and  edifying,  not  the  invention  of  novelties,  was  the 
object  our  Reformers  had  in  view,  as  in  other  matters,  so  also  in  the 
ajusic  of  the   Church. 


29 

glorious  harmonies  were  very  generally  adopted  ; 
bj  Barnard  ju&t  before  the  great  Rebellion;  and,  after 
the  lv'  Btoration,  by  Lowe.  In  fact  we  Lave  an  unin- 
terrupted series  of  authorized  choral  services  composed 
for  our  Church  from  the  time  of  King  Edward  VI  ,  till 
the  last  revision  of  the  Prayer  Book  in  10G1, — not  two 
hundred  years 

The  service  of  the  Church  was  always  'sung'  in  very 
many  Oh  arches  until  the  Great  Rebellion.  The  plain 
song  was  also  resumed  at  the  Restoration,  and  used  till 
a  much  later  period,  even  in  parish  Churches  than  is 
generally  imagined.  There  is  a  judgment  of  Lord 
Stowcll,  in  17(J'2,  recognizing  the  practice  in  parish 
Churches  as  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  land. 

Before  I  conclude  this  part  of  my  subject,  I  must 
remark  briefly  on  two  points. 

1.  That  our  Prayer  Book  nowhere  recognises  the  dif- 
ference between  what  is  vulgarly  called  a  'Cathedral 
Service'  and  a  *  Parochial  Service.' 

The  only  ground  for  such  a  supposition  that  I  know 
is  that  Rubric  which  modern  cathedral  choirs  generally 
disobey  every  Sunday, — viz.,  the  Rubric  after  the  third 
collect, — "  In  choirs  and  places  where  they  sing — "  (i.  e., 
in  places  where  they  have  a  trained  choir,) — "  here  fol- 
loweth  the  anthem."* 

2.  The  second  point  is  the  meaning  of  the  words 
often  occurring  in  the  Rubrics.  When  we  take  up  our 
Prayer  Books,  we  find  that  certain  portions  of  the  offices 
are  directed  to  be  '  said'  or  '  sung,'  others  '  read/  others 
4  pronounced.'  Now,  in  explaining  these  directions,  we 
must  of  course   endeavour    to   ascertain    what  meaning 

given  to  these  terms  at  the  period  when  the  Prayer 
Book  was  compiled,  and  not  how  they  may  be  twisted 
in  the  present  day.  On  reference  to  authorized  works, 
we  find  that  these  were  technical  ecclesiastico-musical 
terms.  The  word  '  say'  referred  to  the  then  universal 
manner  of  saying-  the  prayers, — viz.,  in  plain    song  or 

*  [Rubric  after  '  The  Collect  for  Grace'  in  the  English  Prayer  Book.] 
3° 


30 

monotone  ;  the  word  c  sing'  implied  the  choral  cele- 
bration. This  distinction  is  also  shown  by  the  Rubric 
I  have  just  quoted — In  choirs  and  places  where  they 
'sing,'  i.  e.,  where  the  choral  method,  and  not  the  mere 
monotone  is  in  use.  Evening  Prayer  is  in  the  calendar 
called  '  Evensong.'     [Eng.  P.  Book.] 

This  is  also  clear  from  the  very  title-page  of  the 
Prayer  Book; — "Together  with  the  Psalter  or  Psalms 
of  David,  pointed  as  they  are  to  be  sung  or  said," — i.  e., 
musically  recited.*  They  are  not  pointed  as  they  are  to 
be  read,  in  the  present  meaning  of  that  word,  as  we 
would  read  a  sermon  or  a  book,  for  thus  to  divide  them 
would  often  make  gross  nonsense  of  them, — e  g.,  "How 
shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  song :  in  a  strange  land  ?" 
The  points  or  stops  are  musical  directions,  and  in  the  old 
music  you  will  find  bars  put  in  these  places,  and  here  only. 

I  could  also  show  you,  if  it  were  necessary,  from  the 
Prayer  Book,  that  the  word  '  read'  is  sometimes  used 
in  the  same  sense,  viz.,  for  reading  musically, — eg., 
the  Rubric  before  the  '  Venite  :' — "  Then  shall  be  said 
or  sung  this  Psalm  following,  except  on  the  19th  day  of 
the  month,  it  is  not  to  be  read  here,  but  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  the  Psalms."  The  learned  Bingham  who  wrote 
in  the  time  of  King  George  I.,  speaks  of  the  "musical  way 
of  reading  the  Psalms  now  in  our  cathedral  churches." 

Our  forefathers  were  not  so  inconsistent,  not  to  say 
absurd,  as  we  are  in  these  enlightened  days.  They  did 
not  think  it  wrong  to  sing  the  beautiful  translation  of 
David's  Psalms  in  the  Prayer  Book,  but  think  it  right, 
after  talking  through  these,  to  sing  what  we  may  almost 
call  the  doggrel  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  or  that 
version,  or  rather,  dilution  from  which  as  has  been  said, 
Brady  and  Tate  have  extracted  all  the  poetry.  They 
did  not  think  it  true  Protestantism  to  sing  to  a  tune 
that  nobody  could  follow,  "Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us,, 
and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law,"  but  flat  Popery 
to  chant  in  a  strain  in  which  all  could  join,  "  Good 
Lord,  deliver  us,"  "  We  beseech  Thee  to  hear  us,  Good 

*  [Unhappily  otherwise  in  the  Am.  Book.    How  long  to  be  so  7] 


31 

Lord."  They  were  not  so  inconsistent  u  to  say,  "  O 
Lord,  open  Thou  our  lips,  and  our  mouth  shall  show 
forth  Thy  praise'* — to  exhort  each  other — "0  come  let 
us  SING  uuto  the  Loud,"  and  then  falsify  the  whole 
by  what  too  often  becomes  a  dialogue  between  the 
parson  and  the  clerk. 

There  is,  by  the  way,  no  authority  whatever  for  this 
manner  of  reading  the  psalms  by  alternate  verses — it  is 
■  significant  relic  of  the  ancient  custom  of  chanting 
them  antiphonally.  Should  we  think  it  well  to  read 
alternately  lines  or  verses  of  the  Evening  Hymn?  for 
the  minister  to  begin,  "Glory  to  Thee,  my  God,  this 
night;"  and  for  the  clerk  to  respond,  "  For  all  the 
blessings  of  the  night,"  in  his  talking  voice  ? 

I  have  shown  you  now — and  I  fear  at  wearisome 
length — that  from  the  dictates  of  common  sense  and 
nature  the  service  of  God  iu  His  Church  should  be  a 
musical  service.  I  have  shown  that  such  service  is 
authorised  by  the  Bible,  and  has  always  till  of  late 
years  been  observed  by  the  Church 

It  now  only  remains  that  you  should  hear  what  sort 
of  music  should  be  sung. 

W'e  will  begin  then  with  the  first — the  simplest  and 
the  easiest,  the  monotone — and  so  proceed  to  the  more 
elaborate. 

I  have  said  that  the  monotone  is  the  groundwork 
of  all  choral  service.  The  people  in  public  congrega- 
tional worship  must  respond  in  a  monotone,  and  the 
minister  must  not  be  in  discord  or  jar.  but  "sing  or 
say"  his  part  in  a  similar  manner,  and  harmoniously, 
or  the  result  will  be  a  wretched  mixture. 

The  next  step  to  the  monotone,  or  plain  song,  would 
naturally  be  simple  cadences,  or  melodic  accents  aud 
inflected  responses;  such  as  the  Aniens,  and  the  short 
Suffrages  or  Versicles. 

We  then  arrive  at  a  simple  melody  for  the  chanting 
of  the  psalms.  I  have  already  mentioned  and  traced 
down  the  Gregorian  chants.     They  are  supposed  by  some 


32 

learned  men  to  have  been  derived  from  the  music  of  the 
Jewish  Temple.  Some  even  assert  that  they  are  de- 
rived from  the  music  of  the  days  of  David  and  Asaph.* 

This,  though  of  course  incapable  of  proof,  is  yet  pos- 
sible;  for,  it  being  notorious  that  Pope  Gregory,  iu  the 
seventh  century,  merely  arranged  and  reconstructed  the 
Church  music  already  in  use ;  as  we  have  no  record  of 
any  individual  composer  before  his  time,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  we  are  told  that  it  was  in  existence  in  great 
perfection  and  sweetness  in  the  time  of  S.  Augustine, 
in  the  fifth  century,  and  before  him  had  been  collected 
and  preserved  with  great  care  by  S.  Ambrose  ;  as  we 
know  that  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  sang  psalms  and 
hymns,  which  doubtless  they  would  hand  down  to  the 
churches  which  they  founded ;  and  since  those  Apos- 
tolic hymns  and  music  could  only  have  been  of  Jewish 
origin,  appropriate  to  their  hymnology,  which  was  the 
Book  of  Psalms: — we  are  all  but  forced  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  we  have,  in  the  Gregorian  music,  the  spirit,  if 
not  the  very  expression,  not  only  of  early  Christianity, 
but  of  the  Jewish  Church  itself,  and  of  those  heavenly 
"  songs  of  Sion"  which  the  heathen  longed  to  hear  by 
the  waters  of  Babylon. 

Now-a-days,  all  music  is  written  and  arranged  in 
only  two  modes,  or  scales — the  major  and  the  minor. 
But  in  old  times  music  was  not  governed  by  these 
rules;  and  melody,  both  in  the  progression  of  its  notes 
and  the  manner  of  its  cadences,  was  such  as  must  of 
necessity  seem  strange  to  ears  accustomed  only  to 
modern  music.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  music  of 
uncivilised  nations:  it  is  in  a  different  scale  or  gamut! 
to  ours.  Even  in  our  own  country  we  may  observe 
that  the  cries  in  the  streets,  the  common  songs  and 
choruses  of  country  people,  almost  always  have  the 
cadences  in  a  minor  key ;  and  yet  most  modern  music 

♦[Learnedly  maintained  by  Arthur  Bedford  ;  Essay  on  the  Temple  Musick. 
8vo.  1706.] 

•f  The  word  gamut  is  derived  from  the  name  ef  the  lowest  note  in  the  scale  of 
sounds,  represented  by  the  third  letter  of  the  Greek  alphabet,  called  gamma, 
— G. 


33 

is  written   in   the  major.      Which  is  the  m-st   'natural?' 
Which  is  the  most   '  artificial?' 

a,  S.  Ambrose  arranged  the  music  of  the  Church 
to  four  scales,  or  gamuts,  or  tones.  These  consisted 
purely  of  diatonic  intervals,  or  natural  notes,  as  we  call 
them.  Gregory  added  to  these  four  others;  or  rather, 
re-arranged  them  to  eight  tones:  and  these  eight  are 
what  are  called  the  '  Gregorian  tones.'  There  is  also 
another,  sometimes  called  the  eighth  irregular,  some- 
times the  ninth,  sometimes  the  Peregrine,  or  Foreign 
tone  ;  the  composition  of  it  being  attributed  by  some 
to  the  Emperor  Charlemagne. 

Gregory  also  invented  that  kind  of  notation  by  the 
Roman  letters,  A,  B,  C,  D,  &c.,  which  is  used  to 
this  day. 

S.  Augustine,  the  monk  who  was  sent  by  S.  Gregory 
to  convert  the  Saxons,  brought  these  '  latest  improve- 
ments' with  him  into  England. 

These  simple,  plain  melodies  have  been  known  by 
the  name  of  Canto  Fermo,  or  Plain  Chant,  or  Cantus 
Gregorianus.  Now,  this  music  was  originally  sung  in 
unison.  It  is  much  questioned  whether  the  ancients 
were  acquainted  with  harmonies, — singing  in  parts, — 
but  the  song  of  the  Church  was  long  sung  in  unison. 
This  plain  song  has  laboured  under  undeserved  preju- 
dices, from  some  mistaken  and  overstrained  views  of  its 
not  admitting  the  improvements  made  in  the  science  of 
music, — viz.,  the  addition  of  harmonies,  and  the  utmost 
artistic  skill  in  its  performance.  But  this  is  not  to  do 
it  justice.  One  of  its  great  merits  is,  that  it  is  in  fact  the 
only  music  that  admits  all,  learned  and  unlearned,  men, 
women,  and  children,  to  join  in  it  with  ease;  and  so 
insures  hearty  response  from  the  congregation,  and 
greater  decency  and  solemnity  in  the  service  of  God. 
The  unlearned  can  all  join  in  the  tune  ;  those  who  are 
able  can  sing  the  harmonies. 

Good  authority  can  be  adduced  of  the  addition  of 
harmony  to  the  Gregorian  song  from  the  eleventh  cen- 


34 

tury  downwards,  and  modern  harmony  owns  the  Church 
as  its  parent.  Guido  Aretinus,  or  of  Arezzo,  a  Bene- 
dictine monk,  in  the  eleventh  century,  is  the  reputed 
inventor  of  counterpoint,  or  harmony.  He  added  some 
notes  to  the  scale  ;  and  to  these  he  gave  the  names  of 
ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la.  It  is  said  that  the  idea  struck  him 
one  day  at  vespers,  when  they  were  singing  a  hymn  to  S. 
John  the  Baptist,  the  music  of  which  happened  to  rise 
one  note  on  the  commencement  of   every  hemistich  : — 

"  Ut  queant  laxis,     .Resonare  fibris, 
JMira.  gestorum      .Famuli  tuorum, 
s  Solve  polluti  i-abii  reatum, 

Sancte  Joannes." 

Five  hundred  years  afterwards,  a  Fleming  added  the 
syllable  si  to  the  first  six,  and  completed  the  series. 
About  1640,  Doni,  a  learned  musician,  substituted  do 
for  ut,  as  being  more  agreeable  in  solemnization. 

You  shall  now  hear  some  psalms  chanted  to  Gre- 
gorian music;  and  first  the  96th  Psalm,  "Venite  Ex- 
ultemus."  This  psalm,  commonly  called  the  Invitatory 
Psalm,  from  the  matter  of  it  being  an  invitation  to  the 
devout  setting  forth  the  praises  of  God,  has  been  used 
daily  from  the  beginning  before  the  ordinary  portion  of 
the  Psalms  at  Morning  Prayer.  The  chant  to  which  it 
will  be  sung  is  called  the  Eighth  Tone.  I  should  say 
that  the  principles  of  these  chants  differ  in  some  points 
altogether  from  ordinary  modern  music.  In  the  first 
place,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  time.  It  is  said  that  a 
good  musician  is  half  his  life  learning  to  keep  time, 
and  the  other  half  to  break  it.  It  appears  thattime — i.  e., 
notes  bearing  relation  in  length  to  each  other — was  not 
practised  in  the  eleventh  century.  There  were  no  bars 
used  in  music  two  hundred  years  ago,  except  at  the 
end  of  a  strain.  They  were  multiplied,  as  music  be- 
came more  elaborate,  to  mark  the  emphasis,  to  help 
lazy  singers,  and  to  keep  the  proper  notes  under  one 
another.  Chanting  is  simply  a  recitation  in  a  musical 
tone  of  voice,  with  a  slight  inflection  or  change  of  tone 


35 

at  certain  fixed  points.  The  music  should  always  be 
subservient  to  the  words;  not,  as  too  often  is  the  ease, 
the  words  gabbled  over,  and  sacrificed  to  the  air  of  the 
chant :  every  word  and  syllable  distinct,  every  conso- 
nant sounded,  every  comma  attended  to  ;  so  that  the 
people  may  hear  and  join.  The  proper  effect  of  a  chant 
should  be,  that  you  should  think,  not  "what  a  pretty 
chaut  that  is!"  but  "how  that  music  brings  those 
words  of  Holy  Scripture  home  to  my  heart!"* 

These  Gregorian  melodies  were  preserved  in  Mer- 
becke's  Prayer  Book  Noted,  published  in  the  reign  of 
King  Edward  VI. ;  in  Day's  Service  Book;  in  Bar- 
nard's published  in  1641  ;  and  also,  after  the  Restora- 
tion, in  Lowe's  and  in  Clifford's  works;  and  were 
styled  the  "  Common  tunes  for  the  reading  Psalms." 
Thus  the  Gregorian  chants  continued  to  be  the  regular 
and  authentic  melodies  of  the  Church  of  England,  for 
the  chanting  of  the  Psalms,  from  the  seventh  till  the 
eud  of  the  seventeenth  or  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century, — more  than  one  thousand  years, — when  they 
were  gradually  superseded  by  the  melodies  known  as 
single  and  double  chants. 

The  differences  between  the  modern  chant  (Anglican 
chant  it  is  sometimes  called,  because  it  originated  in  the 
modern  English  Church)  and  the  Gregorian  tone  are 
these :  the  chant  is  more  metrical — the  tone  more 
rhythmical.  In  the  chant,  the  words  are  more  apt  to 
be  sacrificed  to  the  music ;  in  the  tone,  the  music  is 
more  strictly  adapted  to  and  dependent  on  the  words. 
In  the  chant,  the  number  of  notes  constituting  the 
melody  at  the  middle  and  eud  of  each  verse  is  uniform  ; 
in  the  tones,  the  number  of  inflected  notes  is  very 
various.  I  should  add,  that  each  Gregorian  tone  (ex- 
cept the  sixth)  has  several  different  endings,  which 
gives  them  the  advantage  of  considerable  variety. 

But  it  is  not  difficult,  in  looking  over  any  collection 

*  The  choir  then  sung  the  "  Venite"  and  some  other  Psalms  to  the  Gregorian 
tones  from  Helmore's  Psalter  Noted.    [Sold  by  Novello,  New  York.] 


36 

of  the  earliest  English  chants,  to  trace  their  origin  in 
the  Gregorian  tones.  Many  contain  fragments  of  these 
melodies.  Many  that  you  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
hearing  are  but  Gregorian  tones  disguised  or  mangled. 
Many  chants  also  were  formed  out  of  the  harmonies 
which  served  as  voice  or  organ  accompaniments  to  the 
tones,  when  the  melody  of  the  tones  was  taken  in  the 
tenor.  This  may  have  been  the  origin  of  Turner's  well- 
known  chant.  In  the  chant  commonly  called  Tallis's 
chant  for  the  Venite,  the  tenor  has  been  converted  into 
the  treble,  which  tenor  is  nothing  more  than  an  adap- 
tation of  the  first  Gregorian  tone,  fourth  ending.  These 
tones  have  also  served  as  the  subject  for  many  hymns 
and  anthems.  Handel  frequently  made  use  of  them : 
the  well-known  chorus  in  the  "Messiah,"  "The  Lord 
gave  the  Word,"  is  a  Gregorian  tone. 

Another  kind  of  Music  in  the  ancient  Church  Service, 
besides  the  Plain  Song,  or  Canto  Fermo,  was  a  more 
artificial  and  elaborate  kind,  adapted  to  the  hymns  and 
solemn  offices  contained  in  its  ritual.  Both  these  kinds 
of  music  suffered  soon  and  greatly  from  corruptions ; 
and  these  corruptions,  and  the  efforts  made  to  remove 
them  by  the  several  princes  of  Europe,  especially  those 
of  Germany,  France,  and  England,  make  a  considerable 
part  of  the  history  of  music. 

It  has  always  been  the  custom  in  the  Church,  after 
reading  a  Lesson  from  the  Bible,  to  sing  certain  hymns 
or  canticles  as  responsories,  as  it  were ;  such  as  the 
"  Te  Deum,"  "Jubilate,"  "  Magnificat,"  &c. 

Now  the  method  of  singing  the  "  Te  Deum"  was, 
from  very  ancient  times,  different  from  that  of  the 
Psalms.  From  the  irregular  length  of  its  verses,  it  is 
hardly  capable  of  being  sung  to  a  common  chant.  The 
melody  to  which  it  was  sung  is  probably  as  old  as  the 
"Te  Deum"  itself,  which  is  generally  supposed  (like 
the  Athanasian  Creed)  to  have  been  composed  in  the 
Church  of  Gaul,  about  the  fourth  or  fifth  century. 
This  melody,  as  you  shall  hear,  cannot  be  strictly  called 


37 

a  chant ;  it  is  rather  a  succession  of  chants.  It  was 
retained  by  the  Reformed  English  Church,  and  is  given 
by  Merbecke.  It  forms  the  groundwork  for  the  "  Te 
Deum"  in  Tallis's  Service.  Portions  of  it  also  occur 
in  the  services  of  many  old  English  Church  composers 
of  that  period. 

This  chant  or  melody,  then,  is  the  true  ancient  Church 
strain  for  the  "Te  Deum,"  the  original  of  which  is  lost 
in  the  antiquity  of  many  centuries.  It  is  known  by 
the  name  of  the  "  Ambrosian  Te  Deum."  This  irre- 
gular chant  was  the  germ  of  those  arrangements  of  the 
canticles,  peculiar  to  the  Church  of  England,  techni- 
cally called  "services,"  consisting  of  a  series  of  varied 
airs,  partly  verse  and  partly  chorus,  to  which  the  can- 
ticles in  all  regular  choirs  are  usually  sung.* 

The  whole  of  the  Communion  Service  ought  properly 
to  be  a  choral  service.  At  present,  the  only  parts  sung 
in  most  churches  are  the  responses  after  the  Command- 
ments. By  the  way,  it  is  somewhat  strange  sometimes  to 
hear  persons  objecting  to  what  they  call  singing  prayers, 
and  yet  consent  to  sing,  to  an  airy  tune,  these  responses, 
which  are  in  fact  most  grave  and  solemn  prayers. 

There  are  also  two  very  ancient  hymns  in  our  Com- 
munion Service, — two  angels'  hymns, — that  commonly 
called  the  Sanctus,  "Holy,  holy,  holy,  &c,"  and  the 
Gloria  in  Excelsis,   "  Glory  be  to  God  on  high." 

There  are  two  points  not  quite  correct  in  our  use  of 
the  "Sanctus."  In  the  first  place,  it  is  usually  sung 
while  the  minister  is  going  up  to  the  Communion- 
table, after  the  Litany.  A  short  psalm,  or  part  of  a 
psalm,  ought  properly  to  be  sung  then,  as  was  formerly 
the  prescribed  custom.  This  was  called  an  "  Introit," 
that  is,  "  He  enters,"  being  sung  as  the  minister  enters 
the  Communion-rails.  The  "Sanctus"  ought  to  be 
sung  in  its  proper  place  afterwards,  where  it  is  now 
read.     The  other  incorrect  practice  is  that  the  people  ge- 

•The  choir  here  sung  the  "  Ambrosian  Te  Deum,"  from  Helmore'a  Manual 
of  Plain  Song.  [Re-published  by  Pudney  &  Russel,  New  York,  as  adapted  to 
the  Americah  Prayer  Book  by  N.  B.  W.] 


38 

nerall  j  join  in  too  soon,  at  the  words,  "Therefore  with 
angels  and  archangels,"  &c.  This  is,  in  fact,  part  of  the 
preface  or  introduction  to  the  hymn,   "  Holy,  holy,  holy" 

The  learned  Mr.  Palmer  declares  the  "  Sanctus" 
to  be  "the  most  ancient,  the  most  celebrated,  and  the 
most  universal  of  Christian  hymns."  It  is  probable 
that  this  hymn  has  been  used  in  the  Christian  Liturgy 
of  the  East  and  West  since  the  age  of  the  Apostles. 
Certainly,  no  Liturgy  can  be  traced  in  antiquity  in 
which  it  does  not  occur.  The  hymn  contains  little 
more  than  the  words  which  Isaiah  describes  as  being 
sung  by  the  angels  and  six- winged  seraphim. 

The  other  hymn  in  the  Communion  Service  is  the 
Gloria  in  Excelsis,  "Glory  be  to  God  on  high,"  after 
the  reception  of  the  Holy  Sacrament;  as  we  read  that, 
after  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  our  Saviour 
and  His  disciples  sang  a  hymn  before  they  went  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives. 

This  celebrated  hymn  owes  its  origin  to  the  Eastern 
Church.  It  was  used  at  Alexandria  in  the  time  of  S. 
Athanasius,  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century.  It 
is,  therefore,  more  than  1,500  years  old;  and  the 
Church  of  England  has  used  it,  either  at  the  beginning 
or  end  of  the  Liturgy,  for  above  1,200  years.  I  confess 
that  I  never  read  this  heavenly  hymn  in  the  Church 
without  a  strong  feeling,  that  it  is  most  "unnatural"  to 
read  these  burning  words  in  a  dull,  prosaic  tone, — that 
it  ought  to  be  sung  and  chanted  forth  with  all  our  hearts. 

You  shall  now  hear  the  "Sanctus"  and  the  "Gloria 
in  Excelsis,"  as  sung  in  King  Edward  VI. 's  chapel, 
from  Merbecke's  music,  arranged  by  Mr.  Helmore.* 

I  now  come  to  the  last  kind  of  strictly  Church  music 
— music  used  in  public  worship — I  mean  anthems  or 
hymns.  I  have  spoken  of  the  corruptions  of  the  ancient 
Church  music,  and  of  the  frequent  attempts  to  restore 
it.     Perhaps  the  music  of  the  Church  was  at  no  time 

*  The  choir  here  sung  the  "Sanctus"  and  the  "Gloria"  from  the  "Manual 
of  Plain  Song." 


39 

in  so  low  a  state  as  in  the  age  preceding  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  and  in  no  country  as  in  Italy. 

It  was  the  great  Palestrina,  an  Italian,  born  about 
A.  d.  1529,  who  may  be  said  to  have  saved  Church 
limbic  from  excommunication  in  1555,  when  he  was 
about  twenty-six  years  old.  The  reigning  Pope,  Mar- 
cellus  II.,  and  his  Cardinals  were  so  offended  with  the 
bad  style  that  then  prevailed, — the  music  had  become 
so  florid  and  so  elaborate,  that  they  turned  Puritans, 
and  determined  upon  the  Puritanical  measure  of  banish- 
ing it  from  the  Church  altogether.  Palestrina,  how- 
ever, petitioned  them  to  suspend  their  final  judgment 
till  they  had  heard  some  music  he  was  composing. 
They  consented,  and  were  so  satisfied  with  the  result, 
that  Church  music  was  saved, — i.  e.,  as  far  as  Italy 
was  concerned. 

About  the  same  time,  by  God's  Providence,  arose  in 
this  kingdom  a  school  of  Church  musicians,  second  to 
none  of  any  age  or  country.  This  English  style  pro- 
gressed under  White,  Tallis,  Byrd,  Tye,  and  Farrant, 
until  it  reached  a 'maximum  of  artistic  beauty,  mixed 
with  perfect  reverence,  in  the  writings  of  Orlando  Gib- 
bons. Perhaps  the  most  accomplished  ecclesiastical 
musician  of  the  present  day  has  declared  Palestrina  and 
Gibbons  to  be  the  two  greatest  masters  of  the  art  that 
the  world  ever  saw. 

During  the  troublous  times  of  the  two  first  Stuart 
kings,  especially  King  Charles  I  ,  the  style  gradually 
and  somewhat  deteriorated.  The  best  writers  of  that  age 
are  Child,  who  was  a  distinguished  Royalist,  and  Rogers. 

Then  came  the  gloomy  period  of  the  Protectorate, 
when  the  Puritans,  the  champions  of  freedom  and  of 
the  rights  of  private  judgment,  refused  to  Churchmen 
the  religious  liberty  of  worshipping  God  according  to 
their  consciences,  and  abolished  the  song  of  the  Church, 
destroying  all  the  musical  service-books  they  could  lay 
their  hands  upon.  The  damage  thus  done  was  so  great, 
as  in  a  great  measure  to  account  for  the  dearth  of  the 


40 

best  old  Church  music  in  after  times.  Nature  and 
music,  however,  were  too  strong  even  for  these  men  ; 
and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  those  very  men  who 
abused  and  abolished  the  choral  service,  became  them- 
selves notorious  for  their  addiction  to  psalm  singing. 
It  would  seem,  unless  they  are  much  belied,  that,  with 
regard  to  the  kind  of  music  to  which  the  Psalms  should  be 
sung,  they  considered  the  chant  of  the  Church  a  very 
inferior  sort  of  thing  to  a  good  strong  nasal  twang. 

However,  after  the  Restoration,  Church  music  was 
restored  again :  but  it  began  now  to  suffer  from  the 
rise  of  the  opera.  A  new,  secular,  and  dramatic  element 
was  introduced  in  the  music  composed  for  the  profligate 
court  of  King  Charles  II.,  by  Blow,  Purcell,  and  other 
writers.  Purcell,  one  of  the  last  great  musicians  of  the 
English  school,  wrote  operas  as  well  as  Church  music, 
as  also  subsequently  did  the  immortal  Handel. 

You  shall  now  hear  two  short  anthems,  composed  by 
two  of  the  most  distinguished  masters  of  the  old  Eng- 
lish school — Tallis  and  Tye.  Mind,  although  I  have 
been  speaking  of  Church  music  with  reference,  chiefly, 
to  the  part  the  people  may  take  in  the  service,  I  would 
by  no  means  undervalue  the  advantages  of  a  highly- 
trained  choir,  for  the  praise  of  God  in  the  most  perfect 
manner  that  human  art  and  skill — God's  gifts — can 
accomplish.  The  greater  part  of  the  music  of  the 
Church  is  purposely  and  properly  intended  for  the  con- 
gregation. The  anthem  is  restricted  to  those  who 
can  sing  best,  and  who  exercise  their  talent  for  the 
greater  glory  of  God  If  people  cannot  appreciate  an 
anthem  sung  in  the  Church  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
iutended  to  excite  emotions  of  devotion  and  praise,  I 
hope  they  would  never  allow  themselves  to  go  to  a  con- 
cert or  oratorio,  to  hear  "sacred  music,"  merely  for 
the  selfish  and  sensual  pleasure  of  having  their  ears 
tickled. 

The  first  anthem  is  by  Tallis.  Tallis  was  born  about 
1520.     He  was  in   the  Chapel  of   King  Henry  VIII. , 


41 

King  Edward,  Queen  Mary,  and  Queen  Elizabeth. 
.There  was  no  separate  appointment  as  organist  until 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  appears  to  have  been 
the  custom  for  the  gentlemen  of  the  Chapel  to  take  it 
in  turns  to  play  the  organ  till  her  reign,  when  Tallis 
and  Byrd  were  appointed  organists.  Tallis  is  cele- 
brated for  his  arrangement  of  harmonies,  which  are 
considered  unequalled  for  their  fulness  and  truly  eccle- 
siastical sublimity.  There  is  still  extant  an  extraor- 
dinary composition  of  his,  a  "song  of  forty  parts."  He 
died  about  1585. 

The  other  anthem  is  by  Dr.  Christopher  Tye,  musical 
preceptor  to  Prince  Edward,  and  probably  to  the  other 
children  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  and  afterwards  organist  to 
Queen  Elizabeth.  He  was  a  man  as  distinguished  by  his 
literary  attainments  as  for  his  accurate  musical  genius. 

There  is  an  anecdote  of  Dr.  Tye,  preserved  by  An- 
thony Wood.  "  Dr.  Tye,"  he  says,  "  was  a  peevish  and 
humoursome  man,  especially  in  his  latter  days;  and 
sometimes  playing  on  the  organ  in  the  chapel  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  which  contained  much  music,  but  little  de- 
light to  the  ear,  she  would  send  the  verger  to  tell  him 
that  he  played  out  of  tune;  whereupon  he  sent  word 
that  her  ears  were  out  of  tune."  Bather  strong  lan- 
guage to  address  to  ■  stout  Queen  Bess.' 

Sir  John  Hawkins  attributes  the  origin  of  the  mo- 
dern anthem  to  Dr.  Tye,  "  who,"  he  says,  "  applied 
himself  to  the  composing  of  music  to  words  selected 
from  the  Psalms  of  David,  in  four,  five,  or  more  parts  ; 
to  which  species  of  harmony,  for  want  of  a  better,  the 
name  of  anthem,  a  corruption  of  antiphon,  was  applied." 

Dr.  Tye's  ears  were  not  much  out  of  tune  when  he 
wrote  the  anthem  you  shall  now  hear.* 

There  is  nothing  more  wanted  now-a-days  in  the 
Church  Service  than  a  good  and  authorised  Hymnal 
or  Collection  of  Hymns  for  congregational  use.     There 

•The  choir  Uien  sang  "  If  ye  love  Me,"  (Tallis,)  and  "  The  proud  have 
digged  pits  for  Me,"  (Tye.) 

4*      • 


42 

is  no  point  on  which  there  is  a  greater  diversity  of 
practice.  We  have  spoken  of  the  Old  and  New  Ver- 
sion. These  have  neither  of  them  strictly  legal  autho- 
rity, especially  the  New  Version.  The  use  of  these 
Versions  stands  only  upon  an  abuse  of  a  permission 
given  by  Royal  Authority  to  sing  them  before  and  after 
the  regular  service.* 

There  are  a  great  many  very  objectionable  tunes  in 
common  use.  Many  of  what  are  called  "  Hymn  Tunes" 
belong  to  well-known  songs  or  glees,  such  as  "Rous- 
seau's Dream;"  "Breathe  soft,  ye  Winds;"  "Drink 
to  me  only  with  thine  Eyes;"  "Glorious  Apollo;"  and 
even,  I  have  been  told,  "  The  British  Grenadier,"  and 
"The  King  of  the  Cannibal  Islands."  The  notorious 
preacher,  Rowland  Hill,  is  said  to  have  defended  this 
practice,  on  the  plea,  that  "the  devil  ought  not  to 
have  the  best  music  to  himself."  A  reverent  spirit 
would  have  suggested  that  what  was  fit  for  Satan's 
service  was  hardly  fit  for  that  of  our  Creator. 

Some  tunes  again  don't  fit  the  metre  of  the  words, 
and  these  are  either  cut  in  two,  or  repeated,  to  eke 
out  the  melody.  There  is  a  tune  called  the  "Bath 
Chapel"  tune,  to  which  the  72nd  Psalm  is  sometimes 
sung.     The  first  verse  is  : 

"  Lord,  let  Thy  just  decrees  the  King 

In  all  Thy  ways  direct ; 
And  let  his  Son,  throughout  his  reign, 

Thy  righteous  laws  respect." 

This  tune  renders  the  verse  thus : 

"  Lord,  let  Thy  just  decrees,  the  King 
In  all  Thy  ways  direct  ; 
.   And  let  his  Son,  through- 
And  let  his  Son,  through- 
And  let  his  Son,  through-out  his  reign, 
Thy  righteous  laws  respect." 

This  manner  of  bisecting  the  words  has  often  an 
irreverent,  not  to  say  ludicrous  effect,  of  which  many 
instances  might  be  given. 

•[The  *  New  Version'  is  used  in  America  by  action  ofthe  General  Convention, 
equivalent  in  authority  to  a  Canon.] 


43 

When  our  Reformers  translated  the  old  Service 
Books  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  were  written 
in  Latin,  and  compiled  our  present  Common  Prayer 
Book,  there  was  one  part  which  they  did  not  translate, 
and  that  was  the  Hymns.  They  wished  to  do  so,  hut 
they  found  it  was  not  so  easy  a  task  to  translate  verse 
as  prose  into  the  "tongue  understanded  of  the  people." 
Archbishop  Cranmer  desired,  that  as  his  English 
verses  *'  wanted  the  grace  and  faculty  which  he  could 
wish  they  had,"  the  "King  would  cause  some  other 
to  do  them  into  more  pleasant  English  phrase." 

But  as  years  went  on  this  wish  was  not  realised. 
Men  put  the  psalms  into  verse,  and  sang  them  by  way 
of  hymns,  forgetting  that  the  psalms  are  most  properly 
chanted. 

At  last  people  saw  that  hymns  were  wanted.  But 
instead  of  looking  back  to  the  old  hymns  of  the 
Church  of  England  they  wrote  new  ones ;  and  so  a 
great  number  of  "Collections,"  that  have  no  autho- 
rity, came  into  use.* 

However,  some  earnest  and  learned  men  have  of 
late  set  to  work,  to  carry  out  the  wish  of  the  Eng- 
lish Reformers  in  this  matter.  They  have  translated 
the  old  hymns  of  the  English  Church  ;  and  they  have 
also  given  them  the  old  tunes,  which  was  also  the  wish 
of  the  Reformers. 

These  hymns  were  not  written  at  any  one  time,  nor 
by  any  one  man.  They  were  not  written  to  order,  but  are 
voluntary  offerings  cast  into  the  treasury  of  the  Church, 
slowly,  and  at  different  periods,  during  the  space  of  a 
thousand  years.  The  writers  of  most  of  them  are  un- 
known. Of  those  whom  we  do  know,  some  are  among  the 
greatest  saints  that  God  has  raised  up  in  His  Church. 

The  melodies  are  found  in  the  earliest  ritual  books 
of  the  whole  Western  Churches,  and  are  very  probably 
coeval  with  the  hymns  themselves.  These  are  taken 
principally  from  the  ancient  records  of  the  English  use 
now  extant  in  the  British  Museum.     The  harmonies  are 

•  [The  **  Hymns  united  to  the  Feasts  and  Fasts  of  the  Church,  and  other  occa- 
sions of  Public  Worship"  are  used  in  America  by  the  same  authority  as  the 
4  New  Version  of  Psalms.'] 


44 

composed  on  the  model  of  the  great  harmonists  of  the 
best  periods  of  Church  music.  From  some  of  these 
tunes  are  taken  the  subjects  of  some  of  the  finest  com- 
positions of  the  great  masters.  Some  modern  hymn 
tunes  are  also  mere  compositions,  or  adaptations  from 
them.  These  tunes  are  admirably  adapted  for  con- 
gregational use.  Some  of  them  are  remarkably  simple 
in  their  construction,  consisting  only  of  very  few  notes, 
almost  like  a  chant. 

Such  is  the  first  hymn  you  shall  hear,  an  ancient 
morning  hymn  for  an  early  service.  This  hymn  is  cer- 
tainly of  the  seventh  or  eighth  century,  for  it  is  spoken 
of  by  Amalarius,  a  writer  of  the  ninth  century,  1000 
years  ago,  as  well  known  in  his  day. 

The  next  is  the  only  one  of  the  ancient  hymns  that 
our  Reformers  did  translate  into  our  Prayer  Book.  The 
*Veni  Creator' — '  Come,  Holy  Guost' — it  occurs  in  the 
Ordination  Service. 

This  hymn  has  been  generally  ascribed  to  the  Em- 
peror .  Charlemagne,  and  with  every  appearance  of  pro- 
bability. Charlemagne  was  as  distinguished  for  his 
literary  attainments  as  for  his  military  achievements. 
He  was  also  an  ardent  lover  of  the  song  of  the  Church. 
He  had  for  his  instructor  a  celebrated  Englishman, 
Alcuin,  who  was  also  the  most  learned  musical  scholar 
of  his  time.  It  is  just  possible,  therefore,  that  the  royal 
composer  may  have  received  some  little  assistance  from 
his  accomplished  tutor.  We  know  that  such  things 
have  happened, — and  therefore  this  hymn  may  be  a 
composition  of  an  Englishman  eleven  hundred  years 
ago.  It  has  also  been  attributed  to  another  English- 
man, Stephen  Langton,  the  celebrated  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  in  King  John's  reign, — this  is  on  the  au- 
thority of  an  alleged  contemporary  writer  cited  by  the 
editors  of  the  Spicilegium  Solesmense.  This  hymn  is 
from  the  Salisbury  hymnal. 

You  will  observe  one  peculiarity  of  these  hymns, — 
they  want  what  you  call  time.     This  is  not  quite  correct, 


45 

for  if  it  were  so.  no  two  persons  could  sing  them  to- 
gether.  They  may  want  ordinary  time,  but  they  have 
a  time  of  their  own.  They  have  not  what  is  called 
double  or  triple  time  throughout  the  strain,  so  that  you 
would  find  some  difficulty  in  dividing  them  into  bars; 
they  can  be  put  into  bars,  but  they  would  encumber 
the  staff  and  cramp  the  free  dignified  roll  of  the  melody. 
in  single  parts  are  an  introduction  of  the  last  cen- 
tury— quite  a  new  fangled  innovation. 

The  third  hymn  is  a  part  of  a  celebrated  hymn  for  the 
festivals  of  the  Apostles  by  S.  Ambrose,  Bishop  of 
Milan  in  the  fourth  century,  fifteen  hundred  years  ago. 
This  is  from  the  York  Hymnal.  The  melody  of  this 
hymn  was  taken  by  the  great  Palestrina,  three  hundred 
years  ago,  as  the  subject,  or  theme,  of  one  of  his  finest 
masses.* 

The  last  kind  of  music  to  be  brought  before  you  this 
evening  are  some  old  carols.  Carols  were  popular  songs 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  half  hymn,  half  ballad,— they  can 
therefore  hardly  be  called  strictly  Church  music,  al- 
though they  have  a  strong  religious  tone  and  sentiment. 
Those  that  you  will  hear  are  some  ancient  Swedish 
carols,  arranged  by  Messrs.  Helmore  and  Neale,  and 
published  by  Xovello. 

I  will  now  then,  before  these  are  sung,  conclude  my 
long  lecture  on  Church  music  with  two  observations 

1.  The  Roman  poet,  Horace,  tells  one  of  his  friends 
who  seems  to  have  thought  much  of  the  inarch  of  in- 
tellect in  his  day,  that  "there  were  brave  men  in  the 
world  even  before  Agamemnon."  And  in  like  manner, 
I  confess,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  think  that  there 
was  nothing  good, — that  every  thing  was  wicked  in  the 
Church  before  the  Reformation.  I  scruple  not  to  de- 
clare myself  so  deeply  imbued  with  prejudice,  bigotry, 
and  superstition,   that  I  should  delight  to  worship  and 

•I  he  choir  here  sang  three  hymns,  from  the  'Hymnal  Noted;'  viz.,  'Now 
that  the  daylight,*  'Come,  Holy  Ghost;'  and  '  The  Eternal  gifts  of  Christ 
the  King.'    f  Novello,  New  York,  sells  the  '  Hymnal  Noted.'] 


46 

praise  Almighty  God,  as  with  the  same  Psalms,  so  also 
with  the  Psalms  sung  to  the  same  hallowed  tunes  on 
which  they  have  been  sent  up  to  the  throne  of  grace 
from  the  days  of  old.  I  plead  for  choral  service,  the 
usage  of  the  Catholic  Church  both  East  and  West,  ever 
since  the  formation  of  Liturgies, — certainly  for  fifteen 
hundred  years.  I  plead  for  the  old  music,  not  because 
it  is  old,  (though  that  would  be  no  proof  of  worthless- 
ness)  but  because  it  far  surpasses  in  majesty,  grandeur, 
simplicity,  devotion,  solemnity,  and  utility,  the  flashy 
trashiness  and  the  sentimental  mawkishness  of  much  of 
the  modern  compositions.  I  plead  especially  the  usage 
of  the  Church  of  England  both  before  and  since  the 
Reformation.  I  would  have  all  the  people  '5  open  their 
lips,"  and  cry  unto  the  Lord  "  with  heart,  and  soul, 
and  voice."  I  would  have  them  "  lift  up"  their  voices, 
and  with  "one  mind  and  one  mouth," — not  with  a  cold 
subdued  muttering,  or  confused  Babel-like  murmuring, 
— but  "  with  one  accord,"  and  "  with  the  voice  of  a  great 
multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the 
voice  of  mighty  thunderings,"  as  did  the  Christians  of 
old,  and  as  the  blessed  hosts  of  heaven  now  do,  offer  up 
their  homage  and  praise  to  the  glory  of  God's  Most  Holy 
Name. 

2.  The  other  observation  is  this.  Why  not,  as  Dr. 
Cummings  says,  if  we  are  to  have  music  in  our  Churches, 
— why  not  have  the  best?  The  man  after  God's  own 
heart  was  not  satisfied  with  exclaiming,  "My  heart  is 
fixed,  0  God,  my  heart  is  fixed,"  but  he  determined, 
and  he  carried  out  his  determination,  to  "sing  and  give 
praise"  with  "the  best  member  that  he  had." 

People  tolerate,  as  solemn  addresses  to  God  in  His 
Holy  Temple,  noises  that  they  would  not  tolerate  in 
their  own  houses,  nor,  could  they  help  it,  in  the  streets. 
We  are  all  aware  of  the  trouble  taken  to  get  good  music 
in  private  houses,  both  in  the  higher  and  middle  classes. 
And  yet  such  people  are  often  fond  of  ridiculing  or 
finding  fault  with   the   music  they  hear  at  Church.     If 


47 

they  know  so  much,  and  care  so  much  about  it,  why 
don't  they  come  and  try  to  help  and  make  it  better  ? 
If  they  can  find  the  fault,  why  not  try  to  mend  it? 
Great  people  grudge  not  their  hundreds  for  their  Lon- 
don opera  boxes,  and  their  fifties  for  a  song  from  some 
foreign  Signora,  but  give  unwillingly  their  guinea  at 
Christmas  for  their  village  choirs. 

It  was  not  so  in  former  days.  Nobles  and  princes  of 
olden  times  thought  themselves  honoured  by  assisting 
in  the  song  of  the  Church.  Sir  Thomas  More,  while 
Lord  High  Chancellor  of  England,  used  habitually  to 
put  on  a  surplice,  and  sing  with  the  choir  in  the  parish 
Church  of  Chelsea.  The  Earl  of  Northumberland, 
about  the  same  time  maintained  a  dean  and  sub-dean  of 
his  private  chapel,  with  eighteen  choristers,  men  and 
boys.  A  Duke  of  Chandos,  not  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  had  the  Services  in  his  private  Chapel  performed  in 
a  style  superior  to  that  of  many  Cathedrals.  His  Or- 
ganist was  a  man  some  of  vou  may  have  heard  of, — his 
name  was  Handel. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  much  as  we  talk  of  Old 
England,  and  glory  in  our  adherence  to  "primitive 
Christianity,"  and  "  the  principles  of  the  Reformation," 
there  is,  as  far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  no  national 
Church,  or  sect,  that  has  so  thoroughly  changed  its 
music  within  the  last  two  hundred  years  as  has  the 
English  Church.  I  know  not  how  much  the  Roman 
Church  has  retained  of  the  ancient  Church-song,  but  I 
understand  that  she  is  recovering  the  ground  which 
had  been  usurped  by  the  theatrical  music  of  the  last 
age.  It  is  not  amongst  the  Protestant  Dissenting 
Communities  that  we  should  look  for  the  Old  Church 
music ;  but  it  is  a  suggestive  fact  that  chanting,  and 
what  is  called  Cathedral  music,  has  been  introduced 
into  many  of  their  congregations,  together  with  organs, 
those  "boxes  of  whistles,"  as  their  forefathers  called 
them,  and  which  they  regarded  as  among  the  greatest 
abominations  of  Popery.     The  French  Protestants  con- 


48 

tinue  to  sing  their  metrical  psalms  to  the  tunes  to 
which  they  were  first  set  three  hundred  years  ago, 
without  even  modernising  the  notation.  The  same  is 
in  a  great  measure  true  of  the  hymns  in  use  among 
the  German  Protestants.  English  musicians  alone  who 
had  the  finest  school  of  Church  music  in  Christendom, 
not  content  with  the  opportunities  which  anthems  and 
services  afford  them,  have  divorced  the  psalms  from 
the  venerable  melodies  with  which  "  the  Holy  Church 
throughout  all  the  world"  had  associated  them  for 
more  than  a  thousand  years. 

Lastly,  we  know  the  prominent  position  which  music 
frequently  occupies  in  the  education  of  young  persons. 
And  yet  the  only  kind  of  music  in  which  they  seem  to 
take  no  interest  is  that  which  is  offered  up  to  God  in 
His  Church.  How  many  young  ladies  and  gentlemen 
there  are  whom  God  has  blessed  with  ears,  and  lungs, 
and  voices,  and  who  will  hammer  at  their  Broadwoods, 
or  squeal  on  their  concertinas,  from  Monday  to  Satur- 
day, and  pay  high  fees  to  music  masters  and  mistresses 
to  teach  them  Italian  love-songs,  or  silly  English  ballads, 
who  yet  go  tip  toeing  to  Church  on  a  Sunday,  scorn- 
ing even  to  offer  unto  God  "that  which  doth  cost 
them  nothing," — far  too  "genteel"  to  "say"  any 
thing  in  common  with  "  those  horrid  charity-children," 
— far  too  finished  musicians  to  condescend  to  sing  the 
Psalms  of  David. 

I  should  like  to  know,  to  what  more  proper  or  more 
beneficial  use  can  musical  acquirements  be  applied  than 
to  the  Music  of  the  House  of  the  Lord?  Seriously 
speaking,  there  must  be  something  here  radically 
wrong.  It  is  like  saying,  "  We  grudge  neither  time, 
nor  toil,  nor  money,  when  the  end  in  view  is  our  own 
pleasure  or  amusement ;  but  we  do  grudge  both  time, 
and  toil,  and  money,  when  the  object  to  be  attained  is 
the  exaltation,  the  praise,  and  glory  of  Almighty  God." 


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